@UltraZelda64 The blurry background is usually called "depth of field" or "shallow DOF" and may be able to be turned off in the options / accessibility? If not, thats another thing Sega should patch in and should have been there since day one. Many people like it, as it looks like a movie with selective focus, but for others it gives them motion sickness. I actually really like that effect, but its definitely a matter of taste when it comes to games and its very easy to code a toggle.
On Switch Lite I've found I naturally switch between the Dpad the majority of the time and occasionally to the left analogue stick in parts where I'd naturally use the rolling of the d-pad on a Sega controller. I don't have the Megadrive Switch controller yet but I do have several of the Retro Bit MD and Saturn pads, looking forward to playing Superstars with them when I get home. It really does "feel" like the 16bit titles to me, so having the "right" controller in my hand for them will be great!
I'm sorry to hear about the DLC not working for you. Again, thats really bad and Sega need to fix that asap. Hope you get it sorted 😀
@Nua Thanks! Its not something I've ever done before, but its very frustrating having Sonic and Mario arrive so close to each other, and being I've literally bought 3 copies already, I feel entirely morally justified! As I said, I wouldn't have even mentioned it, I thought most people would just do what you did and assume it arrived early, as many people's copies have. Also, people know I'm in the industry, and work on games tv shows and media, so I may even have had a review code. If I thought me posting a mini review one day early meant people would think I was encouraging piracy, I wouldn't have done it! But it seems a stretch to me, I dont' know why they jumped to that 😂
I would never download a current gen game that I don't buy. I do sometimes download Switch games that I own physical copies of, but this is so that I can play them on PC, usually if the performance is bad or for accessibility reasons - notably Links Awakening to improve the framerate and be able to use a D-Pad, and Animal Crossing so I can feel secure that I won't ever lose my island. I'm autistic and the idea of working for literal years on making the perfect island only to lose it when the servers go down is heartbreaking to me, my villagers are alive! lol. But again, I feel entirely fine doing this, because I always buy the physical game. Almost always brand new, retail price, launch day.
I've made clear that I DO play roms and abandonware for old games, but we've discussed the moral implications of this at length on Time Extension, and its a far deeper subject than should be handled in this post. I'm also well known in retro circles for having a very extensive collection of retro items anyway, I mostly use roms for convenience. However, I don't think the person calling me out would have an issue with me doing this anyway, being that they themselves post a lot about jailbreaking their devices and playing roms on them.
@blindsquarel To prevent people lending the game to friends to install, returning it to the shop or selling on their physical copy after installing it. The physical game is basically primitive DRM for many games.
@r1chard If you mean me, I've made it very clear multiple times on this site that I pre-ordered physical shelf copies for Switch and PS5, plus Steam for the innevitable mods. Several people already have their physical copies a week ago because mom and pop shops don't care about release dates. I never once said I was playing a pirated copy, let alone "flexed" about it. I've bought physical copies of every Sonic game since 1991, and after 1995, all of them have been on launch day. In fact for most games I buy multiple copies to collect them, and get regional differences in packaging. I'm well known for being obsessive about this stuff 😂
However, in this case, yes I did download the leaked copy. I wouldn't have mentioned it as i don't want to encourage people to do the same, especially if they don't intend to buy. I want this game to sell well. Again, I've been very vocal about this. Both my Switch consoles are "jailbroken" not for piracy but because I literally develop commercial Switch games. I downloaded to try it 2 days early, simply because I want to spend as much time with it as possible before playing Mario (which I have also pre-ordered, and haven't downloaded, despite it leaking, because I'm playing Sonic). I'm buying myself 2 days of playtime so that I can further enjoy the other physical game I've preordered. As I said, I'm house sitting for my mum at the moment, but when I get home, I'll have 2 nice physical copies sat on my doormat. I have no problem with playing a game I've already paid £140 for (£60 on Steam, 2x£40 for the physicals, from Hit).
@BTB20 Sure, I would usually describe a title as a "single player" game or a "multi player game". However, what I wrote started "I think as a pure one player Sonic experience...", the "pure" as a descriptive emphasis makes it read better in my opinion as "one" rather than "single", principally because this games does allow multiplayer, and indeed has been somewhat advertised to emphasise the multiplayer aspects, none of which I think are actually any good. So I was trying to make extra clear that my mini review of the game was only for if you are hoping to experience it purely by yourself. One person, even though its technically a multiplayer game and marketed as such.
If you are hoping to predominantly play this game as multiplayer... I'd probably drop my 8.5/10 to a 6. The main game play doesn't lend itself to multiplayer and the battle mode is frankly rubbish, imo.
@Mauzuri As I said, many (most? all?) of them, you can attack whilst they are attacking, and also, you can get multiple hits per cycle. I discovered this myself very simply in some of them. And considering I managed that in most, I'd hazard a guess that with experimenting, better players than be will be able to get it down to a fine art.
I don't really have a fully formed opinion on the soundtrack right now. When playing I was often thinking "this music is cool" but so far after 2 playthroughs and a lot of messing around with time attacks and trying different characters, none of it jumps out as instantly memorable, unlike, say, the first time I heard Green Hill Zone at a friends house and it was stuck in my head for months. I wasn't humming along with anything by my second playthough. I didn't think any music was bad, although I did notice a couple looped quicker than I'd have liked.
Again as per my comment above, I'm not going for the hard sale, I'm not mortally offended if people don't like the game or don't want to try it. But that complaint I keep seeing about the bosses simply isn't true. I even went into my first playthrough expecting the bosses to be tedious because of what I'd heard, and pretty much instantly realised people who were saying this were just kinda bad at the game, so I thought I'd mention that incase that was the primary issue putting you or others off.😅
@UltraZelda64 Interesting. Can't say as I noticed, but I've only been playing on the Switch Lite so far, and just through its speakers, so I wouldn't be able to properly judge. (I'm house sitting while my mum is on holiday.) If the sound mix is off, thats definitely something very important to fix, music is so important in Sonic titles.
BTW for everyone reading my posts here and elsewhere, I know some of my posts seem like I'm just sticking up for this game like a shilling fanboy but I'm not beyond noticing problems or things I'd like to be fixed or added. I'd never remotely claim its perfect, its typical modern Sega "its NEARLY great... BUT..." - definitely room to improve, even though I really like most of whats there so far.
@Mauzuri I'm mystified by how much I hear this I can only assume they are playing badly and not trying to attack the bosses except when its explicitly obvious they are vulnerable. Thats like the "easy mode" Sega put in there for kids or beginners who can't play platformers. Sonic is about speed. For skilled players and risk takers, there are ways to make the fights go far faster. Most of them you can hit while they are attacking, sometimes multiple times per cycle. I'm looking forward to seeing what speed runners manage to work out.
I've completed the game twice and no boss even remotely took 10 minutes... I wasn't timing but I'm put money on not even 5. However there were a couple of them where on my first few tries I didn't realise you could attack them during certain attack patterns. Basically if you wait for their "down time" when they are briefly vulnerable, it could take ages, but thats just because you are playing safe and not experimenting.
But if you are brave and accurately jump over their projectiles, get to higher ground, or run underneath them and attack them from behind, you can breeze through them much, much quicker. Perhaps the bosses where you have to chase them would take a long time if you were bad at platforming so they kept getting away... though again, eventually they will wait for you to catch up. Easy mode.
The one exception is the last boss. Its not very original and the first attack patterns is tedious and it seems random as to whether you get the blue projectiles that you need to hit fall in the right place for you to be able to get them... unless I'm just being stupid and theres a specific place to stand to get it right. Assuming not, its just bad design. I didn't feel that about any of the other bosses or mini bosses. Its a shame that the very last boss leaves me with a bad impression (I also dislike the gimmick of the Act 2 level that leads up to it) but everything up to that point is somewhere between "perfect fine" and "actually thats really cool". I've not got all the emeralds yet, so I've not tried whatever the Super Sonic version of the last boss is, I hope its better, not just identical but longer.
Also bare in mind that in both my play throughs I didn't use the chaos powers a single time (I prefer the pure platforming experience, and frankly I forget they even exist. They are not needed to complete the game except the mini "tutorial" when you first pick up each one to learn what it does). If you are finding a particular boss is taking too long, just use one of the chaos powers, like in Streets of Rage where you can "cheat" and call in the squad to firebomb everything on screen! Thinking about it, I should have done this for the last boss when I started finding it annoying.
@WhiteTrashGuy I've been playing on Switch Lite (so not docked) & its rock solid. Pleasantly surprised, I was expecting it to struggle in intense moments. That said, obviously I only played single player (so just one charcter on screen).
I can't imagine the update changes anything significant, I've been playing on Switch Lite without the update and its really good! No crashes or wobbles at all. I'm extremely happy with the performance and how it looks on Switch. And it looks beautiful 😍
As for the game itself, its not perfect but its extremely good. On my first playthough, during the first half I was genuinely saying to myself "is this my favourite Sonic game ever? No, surely can't be..." 😱 Sadly the second half isn't quite as strong - however it also takes more risks in this part, switching up playstyles and adding a lot of variety, so I'm sure some will prefer it & find the early stuff too "unoriginal", or easy.
Surprisingly, the "story" is actually really cool, theres lots of cutscenes and really neat surprises and even when playing through as Sonic you have to do a single level as Tails, Knuckles and Amy at various points throughout the game, which move the story along and its really nice they are all properly involved not just an afterthought. Amy is as always my favourite character, and she plays really well!
To my surprise, Trip is a delight. I won't spoil why. Also, I should say the animation of the characters, their reactions and facial expressions etc are really good. They feel alive, not just stiff models being posed. Obviously the 2d animated intro is good and the ending animation is really great too. Music is really good, though none of it is stuck in my head yet...
I've seen some people complain about the bosses, but for me the only weak one is the final boss. All the others (including the mini bosses) I enjoyed and found fun and not frustratingly challenging. Some may think they are too easy, but for me playing through the whole game start to finish many times I'm glad I won't be dreading any of them.
Theres a lot of variety in the Zones ranging from "pretty good" to "amazing". No zone plays exactly like a previous Sonic game, each have unique and fun ideas, some of which could only be done with 3d graphics. Theres a really fun and very surprising homage to another early Sega mascot that I won't spoil, and I think many will appreciate the novelty, although personally I felt that section wasn't as polished as the rest. When the stages are amazing, I mean they are amazing. Up there with the best.
Its just a bit barebones in extras. Time Attack (very welcome in a Sonic game of course) and a very nicely presented world map that means you can revist any level at any time during a playthrough... but then thats it for Sonic content/modes.
The Sonic medals that you can try and find throughout the levels are a really nice challenge but unfortunately all they do is allow you to buy very basic upgrades for your generic robot in the "battle mode"... which is not very good. I can't imagine ever wanting to go back to it after a quick experiment, you can't use Sonic characters in it, so it feels weirdly tacked on. I'm sure some will get enjoyment out of it, especially in multiplayer. But to me it felt like an unrelated mobile game that I wasn't sure why it was there in my Sonic game 🤔
However, that doesn't take anything away from the main game. I think as a pure one player Sonic experience, its a 8.5/10 for me, and if pushed for a single digit I'd round it to 9. Still absolutely up there with the likes of Mania and the 16bit games for a fun playthrough and a game I'll play repeatedly for many years to come, just as I do with them. 🥰
@dudujencarelli Oh man yeah I remember those Sonic Heroes ones being tough! Yeah the Superstars ones seem fair, I just need to get used to the new playstyle and the nuances of how it works.
@dudujencarelli Yeah, I don't know exactly how it will work in Superstars, I've been mostly trying to avoid spoilers and just play through the game and discover stuff for myself. So far I'm finding the special stages where you get the emeralds really fun but quite difficult, its gonna take me some practice before I get them all!
@dudujencarelli I've just completed the game for the first time. I honestly really enjoyed the majority of the bosses and mini bosses, which is saying something as they are usually my least favourite part of a Sonic game.
None of them stuck out to me as "bad" and most were very creative. Probably my least favourite was the last encounter with Robotnik, actually (and the build up to it, which I won't spoil but I'm not a really a fan of that one last act). Though in this first playthrough I only had 3 emeralds, I imagine like most 2d Sonic games if I'd have had all the emeralds there would have been an extra stage to the fight or maybe even a whole new end boss or different / extra last act?
Of course, thats only my impression from the first playthrough while I was excited to see everything, remains to be seen which ones may feel tedious on repeat playthroughs. As for the weakpoints, I found each boss pretty obvious right away what it was I was supposed to do, but there was some waiting for some of them inbetween moments when they are able to be attacked. Nothing major and overall I thought they were good.
Just wanted to add that for the last half hour or so I've been playing the Switch version of Sonic Superstars and so far its everything I wanted it to be. Its literally PERFECT. 😍 Zero compaints! Runs like a dream and graphics look amazing on the portable screen. Any concern about performance or fidelity right out the window. Its sharp and smooooooth. Controls just as responsive as the best 2d Sonics.
I've finished the first 3 Zones as Sonic in single player and I've enjoyed all the bosses and mini bosses so far, the zone themes and gimmicks are great, The bonus stage where you are kinda spiderman rope swinging through space is good fun, though I've only managed to get the emerald on the first one and failed at every other attempt so far, I'll obviously need to practice.
The "Sonic 1 bonus stage" spinning mini game / special stage is something I wasn't particularly looking forward to but its GREAT. Controls really well, looks beautiful, and is so much more fun than the Genesis original. Genuine surprise there, the Sonic 1 bonus stage is my least favourite of all the Sonic games, so to have it be a highlight of my playtime so far is quite amazing.
All in all, based on my first experiences with from the first 3 zones, if you are a classic Sonic fan wanting a single player experience, there's no way this isn't a 9/10. I am absolutely delighted. And if you are concerned about how it will run or look on Switch, don't be. Sure if you pause the game and pixel peep, some of the textures are soft compared to the other versions, but its super crisp and when moving and concentrating on your character, its literally perfect. 🥰 I recomend this without any hesitation.
[edit] Yup, I'm editing this 7 hours later after I made this comment, and have been playing it solidly ever since! I should probably think about getting some sleep its 6am, completely lost track of time 😅 I completed the game as Sonic, although only with 3 chaos emeralds, and I've been experimenting with other characters etc since. Its a very very solid experience with some really cool surprsies along the way. I think the first half of the game is stronger than the second, though the second takes more risks and is more varied. As a single player experience for fans of 2d classic Sonic games, this is a solid 9. Not perfect, but darn close. For platform fans without the Sonic bias, maybe an 8 for the uneven second half. Fang and especially Trip are highlights, I love Amy's implementation. Not sure about the battlemode and the unlockable/earnable armour and stuff for it, but it might be something I can get into.
@Woderwick Thanks again mate. As I said, I'm privilidged to have them in my life and to have watched them grow into peopel far greater than I could hope to be.
As for American Tabloid, I haven't read it but I'm very aware of the subject matter and a lot of it is based on fact and real people. On your strong recomendation I've just gone and put all 3 books in my wishlist on Amazon to remind me to get them as soon as I get a moment to actually sit still and read something! (usually when I'm traveling for work).
Originally, Bruce Willis's production company bought the option (meaning that no other company can adapt it) but sat on it til it expired (read a conspiracy into that if you want!). Interestingly it now lies with Playtone, Tom Hanks' company, supposedly because he wants to turn it into a multipart drama. For very obvious legal reasons I can't say why, but assuming that they are genuinely developing it rather than purposefully preventing it getting made is especially interesting given certain things about Hanks. Hmm.
Entirely unrelated observation: Certain circles of Hollywood seem to delight in telling on themselves.
[edit] hah scrap that, he did indeed sit on it. He got those rights back in 2008 and nothing has materialised. Typical. Scary how in my mind I read that news just a few years ago. Getting old sucks!
@Woderwick Aw, that's lovely, thanks mate. Though the honour and pleasure of having my kids in my life is all mine. I'm exceptionally lucky to be associated with 2 such amazing people. I'm sure I've learned more from them than they could possibly learn from me. I don't talk about private life online so I'll leave it at that, but they have grown into 2 incredible people and while I don't credit myself for that, I couldn't be more proud of them.
And yeah, spot on with the real criminal types. Also the higher you rise in society and the more powerful "legit" people you work with, you realise there's very little difference between big business and organised crime, always the two cross paths and and often they merge. At the very least, they co-exist very comfortably often because of each other - but to an even higher extent, the most successful businesses (and indeed organisations and institutions) are just criminality wrapped up in fancy legal jargon and obfuscicating paperwork.
@Woderwick I'm sorry to hear of all the problems, and I'm very glad you got that sorted. There is absolutely NO excuse for that kind of ignorance in Britain in this day and age. Still think you could easily have had a justified lawsuit on your hands! I would have been furious. I'm furious on your behalf just thinking about it 😤
And I totally agree on chosen family. There are a small but carefully selected group of people in my life that I love just as much as any blood relative. Not only that but I have 2 kids only one of whom is "biologically" mine and that fact matters not one tiny jot (in fact I 100% forget most of the time until people bring up subjects like this). I very much chose to bring both my children into my life and I love them more than anything. 🥰
@Woderwick Wait, wutt? A mixed race child can't have corn-rows because of "gang connotations" ?! Are you f'in kidding me? I'd have gone right to the local press and also phoned a lawyer. Thats about as blatant internalised institutional racism as you get. Black hairstyles are very important culturally, sometimes even religiously linked. I've never heard of any London gang where rows are compulsary (and I've worked with people from many a London gang, in both music and movies). Did they even consider googling their historical significance or why they are so common for people of colour to wear? Good lord.
Also, yeah, sadly there's been a lot of stuff quietly going around about that dude over the years, not least from his own son. Innocent til proven guilty of course but as you say, his revelling in joking about or simulating some of the nastier things in life as part of his stage act makes some of it easier to believe. Real shame when stuff like that enforces stereotypes of certain alternative cultures or helps certain media figures to be able to claim that media personalities should be taken at their word about what they say in songs rather than seeing it as acting or performance art. Recent and repeated revelations about Marilyn Manson also spring to mind.
Sometimes people believe their own on stage persona so much that it bleeds into their personal lives... but of course 99.9% of the most violent/scary metal artists and gangster rappers are actually the sweetest most shy people off stage. I have travelled with many of them, and can attest to this! Also, I ghost wrote lyrics for a lot of them and I'm about as lefty liberal wet rag as you get 😂
@Narwhalnut I just downloaded the demo for PC and played it through, its EXCELLENT. I love everything about the presentation, the variety of locations and the world building even in just that little snippet of the demo is perfect!
I 100% definitely will buy it to play after I've finished Sonic & Mario, I'm very impressed, and looking forward to seeing more 😊
@KryptoniteKrunch OMG I hadn't heard that Superstars leaked! Thank you! I've bought that game multiple times already but am desperate to play it early... downloading right now, hope I can get it working.
Frankly, I really want to play Mario Wonder too, but not until I feel I've really fully explored Superstars, so even getting to try it 2 days early helps! 😅
@Narwhalnut As mentioned above, I LOVE the look of your game, its gone right to the top of my "must buy" indie list! 😍 Once I'm done with Sonic Superstars and Mario Wonder it will perfectly continue my spree of 2d retro platforming goodness! Really appreciate the hand drawn 2d cover art too! Fits the early 90s style perfectly.
@Ironcore I love Raindrop Sprinters! I really enjoyed chatting to the dev @room_909 in the comments on this site, and I've been playing it ever since 😻
Oh man, almost every game here looks like one I'd really enjoy! GREAT picks everyone! I'd love full reviews of all of these please NLife staff!
Belle Boomerang looks like the closest to something I'd make myself (which is a big compliement from me as I only make things that are 100% to my taste and want to wish into existence!) I love the character and the aesthetics are right on point.
That Squad 51 absolutely nails the visual style of those old movies, its uncanny! Even during gameplay teh ships move like they are on strings, like an early Gerry Anderson show. Whatever shader they are adding to the gameplay really replicates the look of black and white 35mm film excellently.
I feel bad just singling out 2 though as all of these look really cool, unique, creative and fun. Exactly why I love the current indie scene!
@HaileySheridon I played pretty much all of those early 2d platform games for PCs too! Though we didn't get our PC til 1995 so I was catching up with old classic from shareware collections. I agree there was definitely a period where they stopped making platformers for PC, but then things acme back around and many of the big platform titles from the 16bit consoles and Amiga started to be ported to the PC - Disney games like Aladdin & the Lion King, mascot titles like Zool, Cool Spot, Super Frog, James Pond etc all had perfect ports. Of course as you mentioned before the PC also got a port of Sonic CD (and S3&K) in the mid 90s too! But there weren't that many exclusive PC platformers anymore - biggest I remember from that era was Jazz Jackrabbit.
Yeah I really don't know why Microsoft haven't made a new Banjo game yet, there is obviously a massive market demand for it, and they should capitalise on it whilst people who are nostalgic for eth series are still at the age when they are buying new games and sharing them with their kids. Havign Banjo added to Smash (and getting an Amiibo!) was a huge deal and showed how much love there still is for the characters, they are sitting on a goldmine and its frustrating as if they wait too long, it will just die out. Yes you are right that the Yooka Laylee games are basically made by old Rare staff, so they are spiritual successors to Banjo and DKC, thats why I brought them up - I agree there is huge potential for them to make another 3d platformer taking onboard the criticism of teh first one, and Nintendo or Microsoft should definitely hire them to make a new DK or Banjo game.
Yes while my business partner was a very successful streamer she was mostly known for Minecraft, Stardew, Sims all played through PC and other titles that didn't invovle any kind of dual analogue stick controls. It took her a while to adjust but it was funny and rewarding to see her master it. Her audience really loved rooting for her to succeed and cheering when she finally managed a tricky jump.
Yes I'm definitely glad you reminded me of Ary because I meant to try it out, and now I definitely will. The developer was certainly a very nice guy and very passionate about the character, I hope he gets to do more with her in the future 😀
@Princess_Lilly Yes, the earliest 8bit Microcomputers were all basically just little programming workstations - they didn't come with any kind of graphical operating system, just booted up with a flashing cursor ready for you to type (in code) whatever you wanted it to do next. From that, all of them accepted either high level machine code or simple to learn "BASIC" language programming, so you could just turn them on and immediately start coding, then save your program/game to tape or disc, and then share it with others!
In the UK, the best selling computers of the 80s were Sinclair's Spectrum range, Sir Clive Sinclair made it his mission to make the first "complete computer" for under £100 and therefore affordable for all homes, they would all come with a book teaching you simple programming. He wanted every child to learn to code. The machines all supported colour graphics, sprites, sound... you could easily recreate 70s/early 80s arcade titles and make semi approximate versions of NES titles. If your parents cound afford a slightly more expensive computer like the C64, the results could be even closer. Similarly, the UK government worked with the BBC and Acorn computers to ensure that every school had "free" computers and taught BASIC programming to all students!
Sadly, once graphical user interfaces and mice because a thing, the emphasis on teaching kids to code disappeared and computer lessons became about word processing and spreadsheets, nowhere NEAR as useful longterm and moving kids to grow up into consumers rather than creators, and workers rather than CEOs. (of course, thats basically what capitalist governments prefer... consumers buy things, profits are higher with an abundance of cheap unskilled labour. But thats a rant for another day). But the brief insistence on affordable computers and compulsary programing lessons in schools for just under a decade is what lead to an explosion of many of the biggest videogames companies in the world during the 32bit era (Rockstar, Codemasters, Psygnosis, Core Design etc) coming from the UK - they were all my age and had first learned on Spectrums/Commodores/Amstrads.
I was especially lucky in that my dad was a teacher who in the late 1970s had specifically trained to teach kids programming. He bought a very expensive and high end (for the 70s!) Commodore business workstation to practice at home, and as soon as I was old enough (about 6-7 I think!) he started to teach me how to code for it. So even though he was very strict and didn't want me to have videogames, he taught me to make my own instead! I wasn't finally allowed to have a console til Christmas 93, but by that time I'd make my own clones of many of the most popular games that I covetted... Sonic, Mario, Dizzy, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat... looking back on it now, very fun times and I learned a lot!
It was actually the norm for even the biggest and most successful games of the mid 80s to have either single person or very small teams. "big budget" titles often had one person programming, one making the graphics, and one making the music. All other people in the credits were things like play testers, or marketers, legal licensing, financing etc, not actually making the games. This even applies to very famous arcade games, early NES and Gameboy titles... For example, Super Mario Bros was just 5 people.
Being that all of the personal computers of the time (even 16bit ones like Amiga and Atari ST) didn't require any development kits and could be programmed on pretty much straight out of the box, it was perfectly feasible at that time for a passionate kid in his bedroom to make a game that ended up being a #1 best seller! There was always stories in the news of young British teenagers paying off their parents mortgages and buying ferraris as their first car! This was very inspiring to me. Infact, you mentioned Rare's Jetpac... that's a perfect example, as that game was made by just 2 people, the Stamper brothers, made on a £100 computer the ZX Spectrum, self published (as "Ultimate Play the Game"), and made over £1 million in sales! I don't know the exact age of the Stamper brothers at the time, but they couldn't have been older than their very early 20s when that happened.
Even early 3d titles like Doom only had a handful of staff, Tomb Raider and Mario 64 less than 20... so it was possible for a talented indie to recreate similar results by themselves well into the mid 90s. It was only once the scope of games became more abitious and expectations for quality and variety of graphics and professional music became much higher towards the end of the 90s with enormous cinematic experiences like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 2 that it started to feel impossible to compete without large budgets... and the DC/PS2/GC/Xbox/ 3D accelerated PC generation cemented this and drove the wedge further away. I could have pivoted to mobile games but at the time the hardware was very limited, and again, always changing. There was no standard for developing one game that would run on all devices (that is why Unity became a thing shortly after).
I completely agree on your thoughts on the RDR-style game. At no point would I claim that what the solo dev created was "good". Just that its an impressive achievement considering he started from nothing and made everything himself, including all the art assets (rather than buying pre-made stock ones). In my opinion though, he was on a fools errand. Its simply not possible for a single person to make a game of that level of ambition by themselves with no budget. This is why I am so happy that there is now a market for more 16bit retro-style titles - as this is what I've always loved making.
I really love StarDew and Freedom Planet. I certainly agree that I actually personally usually prefer the best indie titles to most AAA games. Other than Nintendo, Sega and a handful of other companies, I usually only play retro games and indie games nowadays, the modern AAA experience usually is completely uninteresting to me. But its all a matter of taste and I'm glad that there is now room in the market for both to exist (and everything inbetween!). I've not played Yomawari, nor do I know much about it but I've just watched the trailer and it looks like something I'll really enjoy! I know nothing of the development process, but its quite feasible that a talented creator could have made that by themselves, or with a couple of friends. And it looks wonderful! Thats inspiring to me... just like back in the "good old days" when I started out! 😀
@Woderwick Yeah agreed, if someone will judge you for something as simple as a first visual impression they probably aren't the kind of person you want to be friends with anyway!
Chappie was a great film. I remember first hearing Die Antwoord when they released "Enter the Ninja" and I recognised the "Whatever you like" sample and of course the meme/gamer Butterfly interpolation. I remember the lyrics amused me by throwing in random gaming references and also bits of 90s culture including several Vanilla Ice lyrics. As they were South African I wasn't sure if he was serious or if it was meant to be funny but it was certainly unique and memorable and I see why they gained a lot of traction after that.
I've subsequently heard lots of not very nice things about him, which of course is a real shame if true. In my industry, sadly, its becoming a liability to align myself with or even speak admiringly about anyone as turns out many have skeletons in their closet and then people say stuff like "you must have known!" "theres all these pictures of you together!" etc. Obviously I'm glad that we are now in the position where people can call out problems in the industry and poor behaviour etc, the thing that botherrs me is that it seems so prevalent and of course there is no way to know who is a "good" person or not. Anyway, side rant for another day. I agree that "purposefully bad / prison style" tattoos are cool in a punk rock "not art" kinda way!
@Mgalens Yup I'm exactly the same. I'm sure this will look just lovely on the 720p portable screen, especially as it doesn't do what many Switch games do and suddenly switch to 520, 480 or even 360p for a few seconds when it randomly feels like it to catch up... I'd 100% rather a simple looking game that keeps the native resolution of the screen perfectly, and maintains 60fps, than having a variable resolution or framerate.
@Dr_Corndog Yeah, agreed... though as an autistic person I still feel an obsessive need to score and organise everything in my own head all the time! Hypotheticals like which are my favourite shows, games, restaurants, meals, people etc etc... I totally have my own scorign system for games and the difference between a 97% and 98% in my head is VERY significant! But also very personal to me and I know others may feel differently, and that's fine. So I always read reviews as more of a single persons opinion, and try to guage whether their opinion sounds like one that may align with mine. The text of the review is always more important than the final verdict, as they may place the weight of importance on different things.
@Woderwick Haha that's funny that your boss had that double standard... yeah military tattoos were the one exception for older generations that I nearly mentioned also in my previous post but it was already gettting pretty long! lol. I'm glad perceptions have changed nowadays. I'm not always a fan of other people's tattoos, but surely thats the point - they are for them, not me. Its a very personal thing and a way of expressing or remembering something important to you.
When we were talking before about how nice it is to hand write a letter, it made me think of the song "Tweet" by Alizée, but its in French so I didn't bother to mention it... essentially though the lyrics are about how in modern times romance is lost through just sending texts and likes, using hookup apps etc and not properly "courting" like our parents or grandparents generations did. Dancing, walking together, love letters.
However, now there is even more context to also talk about her so I will get it out of my autistic brain to get some closure! Long story short about her she is a very well known celebrity in France, for many years, starting off as somewhat of a French equivalent of Britney Spears in the lolita-esque early marketing, but she has stuck around in popularity to this day through various different career ebbs and flows. I've met her a few times through both the music industry and Disney (where she voices some French dubs and sings french versions of the movie songs) and she's lovely. To people in the English speaking world, she is quite infamous within certain gaming circles and some of the nerdier sections of the internet, for an old performance of hers going viral, basically for her doing a somewhat provocative dance that became a meme / milkable gifs and then was integrated as an emote / taunt in various videogames, including being the dance that the night elves in World of Warcraft do.
Anyway, this has lead to English speaking audiences mostly only really knowing her for that one performance ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6omsDyFNlk ), and idolising her beauty captured in that moment... but that was many years ago. Right after that performance, she got married, moved out of the limelight for a while to start a family, before coming back to release new albums later. She is still a very beautiful woman, but she's now 39, has had several kids and over the years has amassed quite a lot of tattoos. None of which should be remotely strange! Time passes, who'da thunk it?
It puzzles and saddens me to see how many knee-jerk appalled reactions there are to the fact that she "ruined herself" according to many random internet dwelling folk who somehow expect her to look exactly the same as she was when she was 19 in the video they obsess over, and how angry a few tattoos make them... especially as the majority of them are related to nerd friendly things like anime, videogames, fantasy, disney... I've talked to her about her tattoos and the stories behind some of them are very personal and quite moving but a lot of people are just "pretty woman shouldn't have tattoos" full stop. I don't understand why anyone would want to police what someone else does with their body...
As for me, no-one has told me not to get tattoos, and of course yes they can be covered for filming with makeup or even removed in post with CG. I've done that for my own projects. But I'm no-where near famous or important enough to be able to warrant taking any extra expense or time, as far as most casting directors are concerned! Easier and cheaper to find someone without! I'm easily replacable! 😂
@Revolution_Falls @Lanmanna Thanks for the replies - I was genuinely interested if somehow "caterpiller" was an unknown term in America, but I was sure that couldn't be the case as I've heard American people reference "The Very Hungry Caterpiller" book, and also the "Catter-killer" badniks in Sonic games were named by Sega of America. I guess that rather than being a country specific term, "inch worm" is an older lesser used folk name, perhaps.
@NinjaNicky Yeah I first heard "lay the pipe" in the early 2000s in some Rocafela and Def Jam stuff, I'm British and to begin with I had that association you did too. However, shortening it to just "pipe" is something I've heard in a lot of British rap/grime/drill etc.
I was never entirely sure if "inch worm" was an exclusively American thing, and just what they called catterpillas. I knew of it from that "measuring the marrigolds" song, which I think we did at school. 🤔 I've never heard a Brit say it outside of that context though.
@SalvorHardin The textures are lower resoultion, sure, but they don't look bad (or unfinished) to my eyes at all. But that's just my perspective, so I posted a video specifically so people could make up their own minds, as everyone is going to have different expectations.
For me, I've bought multiple versions of this game as I do with all Sonic titles. I'm sure it will look stunning on my gaming PC. The Switch version is obviously the one with the least graphical detail. But from what I've seen I'm more than happy with being able to play this portably, I think it looks good and (more importantly) runs great at 60fps, and without resorting to dipping to super low resolutions like many Switch games do. Looks to be rock solid at 720p 60fps, and thats something not many Switch games can say nowadays, let alone multiplatform titles.
For people who have a different console or PC and don't care about portability, sure, this isn't the version to get. But for those who only have a Switch, or prioritise portability, this seems a pretty great option, to me at least.
@Thomystic Yes I honestly think that's a factor. I'm the biggest Sonic apologist in the world but I do think that would have been a better price point so people would be a little kinder to it. That said, several retailers obviously agree as thats what they are selling it for, if you shop around. For example, in the UK (& europe?) Hit has it £39.85 with free delivery, physical, for all consoles.
@120frames-please Here's a video of an hour of Switch gameplay, with a framecount on screen. I'm trying to avoid spoilers but flicking through to random parts I don't see it ever dip below 59.9 fps... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huDpKsmCnEk
Usually I'd be suspicious that Switch review codes don't seem to have been sent out... they've obviously downgraded the shaders and graphics detail a little to prioritise speed, but it still looks great to me, just like it did in the Switch traielrs we'd already seen.
Honestly if I saw a brand new sealed Wii U out in the wild at standard RRP I'd buy it. I loved my Wii U, as did most of the handful of us that actually bought one 😂 The value is likely to skyrocket as these become harder and harder to find in new condition.
@Guitario Thank you. Yes its a strange situation where if this were a single player experience only, without the expectation of multiplayer, I don't think it would be marked down for it. Perhaps expectations for some reviewers were raised by the focusing of some of the promotional material being on the multiplayer, and it becoming a headline feature because this hasn't really been a thing in the full mode of a Sonic game before. So ironically, by advertising this extra mode, it damages the perception of a game that would have perhaps left a better impression without it.
To me, I was always doubtful of how well Sonic gameplay would work in multiplayer, for reasons I covered in detail in yesterday's post ( https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/10/site-news-so-wheres-our-sonic-superstars-review#comments ) so I've been 100% anticipating the single player experience. The only real negative I've heard of that is about the bosses, but I'm confident the main experience of the main acts of the zones (always my favourite part of Sonic games) will be absolutely top notch. Even the less favourably scored reviews pretty much universally say so. 😀
I'm not here to criticise anyone who's primary interest was in the multiplayer, or who was hoping the new chaos powers would somehow reinvent the wheel. But these are criticisms I personally can easily overlook as they don't affect what am looking forward.
@Dr_Corndog Yeah that's how I feel too. Frankly, the Push Square review, and a few of the other ones I've read that scored on the lower end seem like an 8/10 had it been simply a single player experience. But by adding a slightly ill advised multiplayer mode, somehow that has knocked the score down than if it wasn't there at all.
To be clear, I'm not saying the scores are "wrong", not at all. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and the reviews I've read argue their cases well. But as someone who's only interested in the single player side, the negative reviews still read as mostly positive. 😀
Averaging 7.5 / 10 on Metacritic so far (only PS5 version has enough reviews to get an average yet) https://www.metacritic.com/game/sonic-superstars/
Which is exactly what I predicted before - I said "between 7 and 8", which is more than good enough for Sonic fans to get excited 😀
I made my feelings clear in more detail on yesterday's thread, but my TLDR is that it seems that if you are looking primarily for a single player experience that recreates the old Sonic games with a new coat of paint, this is a great game. If you were hoping the co-op multiplayer or Chaos emerald powers would improve or expand the experience at all, you'll be dissapointed, they don't add much.
Thankfully, I'm in the camp of "I just want a good single player Sonic game that feels like the old games, but with new stages". Personally, this is my most anticipated game of the year, and I'm very much looking forward to the 17th 😍
@rushiosan If you mean Christian Whitehead, he has confirmed that they actually used his code for the physics in this one! And also there should be several retaillers selling this game at $40 if you shop around There certainly is in Europe, I've not paid more than £40 for my copies, delivered.
@Woderwick Ha! Honestly you sound like my kind of person. Its great that you are so confident in who you are nowadays, I'm sorry that it took a while to get there, that's certainly a sentiment I can empathise with very clearly.
I started getting my tattoos in my music industry days before having any concept that one day I would be an actor, I always planned on getting many more over time but as soon as I started getting roles in films I stopped as I realised it could limit what I could play, both in terms of tone but also time period. Nowadays I have to take care of my skin, body, diet, exercize etc as part of my job. (I'm far from an oil painting but Iook far better now than I did in my 20s!)
Again though I think the world today doesn't have as negative a perception of tattoos as it used to, you see just as many leftie liberal snowflakes (like me!) sporting them as biker gangs or football hooligans. Infact younger generations see it as more of a sign of being an artistic person and therefore likely to be kind or at least interested in talking to them about their ink and why they got each piece etc. Definitely more of a conversation starter than the "leave me alone" it used to be for our parents generation.
@Woderwick Ah, I love everything about what you wrote there! Funny that you say you look like an extra from a Guy Ritchie film, that was literally the look and image I was somewhat typecast in for many years, both from my notariety in the rap music world and from earning my dues in the film industry working on countless low budget cockney gangster and football hooligan films. I got tattoos, shaved my head, worked out a lot and fully leant into it... as a somewhat effeminant kid who was bullied I must admit to have enjoyed cosplaying for a while as a "hard man" and leaning into the uber masculine traits and have people accept me as that.
After a while though I realised it wasn't all that fun and that some people were scared of me, or assumed I was sexist, racist, or violent... whereas I just thought I was being "manly" I was coming across as "Neo Nazi" after a while (only from appearance, not by IRL behaviour of course) ! Which is the absolute furthest from who I am. As soon as I started to get enough power to make my own projects, write my own scripts, get the parts I wanted etc I started purposefully going against that stereotype, getting parts in romances, comedies, growing my hair back (many colleages had assumed I was bald!) etc. I'm somewhat fascinated by societal gender constructs as none of them ever made much sense to me and as an autistic person I've just been feeling my ways around them all my life. Nowadays I'm at the point where I finally feel ok to just be unasahmedly me, and like what I like, act how I act etc. I think the world is a lot more accepting of that nowadays than it was when we were kids though.
I also have a very strong urge to take the mick out of myself, or want to be taken down a peg or two if ever I get too self important or am in a position where people are looking up to me. I've written several films where I end up playing the lead role, and in all of them I end up makign the character a bit of an arse who thinks he's cooler than he is. Often they think they are a ladies man but end up getting slapped or taken advantage of rather than actually coming off as cool to the audience. Even in my short lived but occasionally briefly reappearing rap career I just can't in all seriousness have the necessary confidence and bravado without also putting a load of self depricating jokes in there. There is definitely a British reserve that stops me from going full "aspirational figure / role model / sex symbol" in any American media I work in.
@Ristar24 Marble and Labyrinth aren't bad, per se. They are actually very nicely designed. Its just that it feels that they are from a completely different game, and it changes the flow very quickly. I recently saw a video about the history of the game's creation and the original designers explained quite succictly how each zone in Sonic 1 was purposefully designed to be a completely different gameplay experience in order to make what they hoped would be a well rounded game and show off the range of the character and the engine. I think they succeeded there, but for many people, Green Hill is so strong an impression that to immediately forcefully slow Sonic down feels jarring.
Forgot to mention it before but I'm impressed that you noticed the speed cap or lack there of. Theres a really difference between the momentum and speed differences between sonic 1, 2 and 3 and in my game engine for my fan game I've made sure to have toggleable options for players to choose which suits their prefered playstyle better.
@HaileySheridon Thank you for the detailled replies, I loved reading your personal history with Sonic and also your evolution through different consoles and discovering different characters and series that you like, and its great that nowadays you share them with your nieces,a nd also play new games together as well.
I agree its a huge shame that we haven't yet gotten a proper modern Banjo game. Did you play Yooka Laylee? I thought the 3d one was ok, but actually prefered the 2d one, which played very like a Donkey Kong Country title.
I too am really hoping for a proper new Spyro game like we got Crash 4. My business partner is younger than me and used to be a pretty successful Twitch streamer. She had never played a platform game before but her audience kept requestign she played the reignited trilogy, I have very fond memories of her struggling to get used to the controls but then slowly improving and getting really good while the chat cheered her on!
I actually briefly met Sebastien Le Touze, the creator of Ary, at a French games industry event (I think he's Belgian but there is a lot of crossover and colaboration between the two countries in all media) , I was very impressed with what I saw. Seemed like a cross between 3d platformers and a Zelda like experience? He talked passionately about the character and I really liked his vision for her. I should make time to play the full game, I'm sure I'd enjoy it.
@Woderwick Aw, I'm glad you felt that way. There is something special about a handwritten note nowadays. I also like to make handmade cards or draw custom bits of art for people that I love. I think in these days where everything is so digital, it means more to have something tangible that someone took time to do, even if its just writing a quick note.
For obvious reasons I won't get into who, but one of the people I worked with and wrote a note to actually ended up being someone I worked with on a few projects, and if we happened to coincidentally be at the same industry events as each other they would recognise me and come over and say "hi", even sometimes breaking conversation or even temporarily stepping out of interviews to give me a hug. We got to be good friends and I even spent Christmas round their house one time for an incredible dinner. While I was there, they brought out a lovely scrap book that they keep as a reminder of big moments in their career, and they showed me that they had pasted my note into it, and said it really meant a lot to them. I was so happy that it meant a lot to them, I remember feeling somewhat timid in handing it over incase it would seem silly or insignificant to them.
I can totally see where you are coming from with the Fight Club connections there... in my headcannon I find it very hard to imagine Calvin and Hobbes ever growing apart, in the same way I can't with Snoopy and Charlie Brown, or Christopher Robbin outgrowing Pooh. Thats probably due to my own undealt with issues of refusing to grow up and leave aspects of my childhood behind! 😅 Thankfully I've managed to make a career out of it. The pressures on what it means to be a "man", especially in the current day and age, and how capitalism and a consumer society (and the effects of various political and social movements in that) are a huge point of interest for me, and actually the combination of these two points (men not wanting to grow up, not having a place in society, societal pushing of agendas for certain genders and social groups in order to feed the capitalist machine and make money) are the underlying themes of my first big Superhero movie that I wrote... can't say much more than that but I think you'll find it interesting judging by what you wrote!
@Ristar24 I absolutely know Turbo the Tortoise... I have the C64, Spectrum and Amstrad versions! I have somewhat of a soft spot for any game trying to recreate the appeal of Sonic, but on the 8 or 16bit microcomputers. The C64 version is definitely the best, though the Spectrum one is impressively smooth for the hardware. The reason it never got a sequel is that it was the last game by Hi-Tec Software just as they were in the process of sadly going bust. Infact Codemasters stepped in to somewhat save the game and many copies have a Codemasters logo instead of Hi-Tec.
Also, you just really took me down memory lane with mention of Index. Perhaps it was because we had an "Index Extra" but I definitely felt that they were better for console games than Argos, always a bigger selection and older games at very reasonable prices as well as the latest titles. Several times I'd go into the store with £60 saved up intending to buy a game for my newly acquired SNES and instead walk out with 5-6 Master System games that I'd missed out on instead! some absolute bangers as well! Asterix, Lemmings, Marble Madness, PacMania... 😍
Sonic 1 on Megadrive was the game that made me fall in love with the series of course... I played it at a friends house in 1991 on release and it genuinely felt like my whole world changed. I loved EVERYTHING about the character and Green Hill Zone (the only zone I got to see). I find the uneven pacing between the levels to be frustrating for replays (Marble Zone is my least favourite, so havign it right after Green Hill dampens my enthusiam for playthroughs) so for me its the wekest of the Megadrive titles, but still one I love to bits. I actually feel the Master System Sonic 1 is a better gaem, as do many, but certainly not all people! haha. But that first Green Hill Zone just really did everything right and was just in your face with awesome characters, concepts, and easily the best graphics and music I'd ever heard from a game until that point. That single experience is teh spark of why I've been pretty much obsessed ever since, not only with teh games, but the characters, music, designs... reading every comic, watching every show, making my own fan projects since I was a kid. Literally in 1991 I made a Commodore version of Sonic 1 so that I could play it, when I knew my parents couldn't afford a Megadrive. Also that summer holidays drew an enormous 20+ page comic, learned piano to play Green Hill Zone theme...
If you only played that PS4 version of Frontiers at launch, I think you'll find the game has massively improved since then, though I can't vouch for if performance has changed. Its not just vast amounts of new content thats been added but the controls have almost completely changed and been refined (and allow you to customise to make them feel how you prefer).
@Mgalens Yeah I love Mania too but I agree some of the bosses slow it down on replays. The Mean Bean Machine "boss" is actually my favourite, I was so delighted when playing that for the first time! That entire ending sequence of S3&K is absolutely amazing.
@Woderwick Hahah Your son sounds great, I'm sure we'd get on very well! Probably best to keep us apart though as you many not get a single word in edgeways, nor any sleep as we would just keep going for days about stuff that doesn't really matter, but for some reason it does to us. 😂
In many ways you and I are very similar and have a lot of shared interests, as we've discovered before! I could write a good couple of paragraphs at least about almost everything you just briefly mentioned. I've no idea how Calvin and Hobbes is Fight Club, but as a big fan of both I think thats something that deserves a long discussion over a pint one day! 😅
Thats really, really cool that you handmade your own game and gave a copy to Carpenter, I'm sure he genuinely appreciated that. I've not gone that far but there are a handful of true legends and lifelong heroes that I've had the pleasure to wrok with professionally and rather than make it awkward for them (or maybe it made it even more awkward I don't know) I write them each a hand written letter thanking them and explaining why their work meant so much to me and why it was an honour to meet them, and handed it to them as I was leaving, once it couldn't negatively affect our experience working together. I know that for at least a couple of them they actually read the notes and were very touched.
I mostly keep personal stuff offline but in short, yes, my mum is 100% solid gold wonderful person I'm so lucky to have had her in my life and right now I'm treasuring every day and experience with her that I can. My dad is also equally wonderful in different but equally important ways. Sadly they didn't stay together but even with diverging paths both have been a consistent source of inspiration to me throughout the years and I feel lucky to have known them for as long as I have.
@Ristar24 Nice, I always like hearing about Sonic fans that have been around since day one and ridden the differing waves of quality and reputation of the characters etc.
For me, Sonic 4 Episode 1 is probably the low point and thing that upset me the most... I probably wouldn't feel it was such a trevesty if it was just a mobiloe game and called something different. You're right that episode 2 was a significant improvement but still a long way off base. For me, Sonic Mania is the "real" Sonic 4 and I pretend that other game doesn't exist as its the only one that makes me irrationally angry or upset 😂 Maybe the GBA port of Sonic 1... but its a port so that doesn't count in my head, I can ignore it.
Frontiers is far from perfect but its the best a new 3D Sonic game has been in decades and has real potential, and I've really admired how active Kishimioto has been in interacting with fans and even the modding community in going back and trying to improve the game, fix it, add requested features etc. The 2nd and 3rd free DLC really fixed a lot of my biggest issues with it, and they've confirmed that they are building on what they've learned with the next mainline game, rather than going back to the drawing board, so I'm more hopeful for 3D Sonic than I've been in a long time.
Mania, Origins and Superstars are all pretty great for 2d Sonic and I'm hopeful more classic Sonic games will continue to be made and they now at least understand how the physics, controls and level layouts should be, the improtance of the base set of characters, and have areally good team of people on the art, animation and music departments. (I wish we'd get a more colourful and cartoonish feeling 3d game with them all workign on it, but thats probably a long way off happening).
Sonic as a brand overall though is really on an upswing outside of the games. The two movies were far better than people expected them to be and the second really was given the freedom to be more of a "like the games, for the fans" thing than the first, I can only see that continuing with the third. The recent shows have been good, better than many previous attempts. The IDW comic series is absolutely killing it in my opinion. The marketing Team in America, Katie, Justin, Mike, Kenneth, Aaron, Jasmin and all are all very clearly lifelong fans with a real passion and knowledge for the history and clear vision for the future, and area actually listening to the fans and putting out quality products that are requested.
With all that in mind, I feel like Sonic as an overall brand is getting over its awkward mid 2000s "joke brand" era and theres whole new generations of kids just growing up loving it unironically, and it warms my heart to see parents enjoying sharing taht with them, just as I did with my own kids (who are now fully grown... jeez time goes by so fast as you get old).
@Mgalens From what I've seen, the Switch version plays great, almost entirely 60fps in the capture footage I've analysed (yes I downloaded the videos and opened them in editing software to check for frame drops... I'm aware this is beyond nerdy) however that was all footage that was officially put out there by Sega so I'm sure if there are areas where it doesn't perform as well, they would strategically not include them. But basically, I'm confident it will mostly play smoothly. The graphics are noticably cut back but I still think they look really nice and I'm happy they prioritised framerate over some fancy shaders or particle effects.
If I'm 100% candid, bosses are always my least favourite part of any platform game. For me, its all about the speed or fluidity of movement, and exploring new environments. I find it hard to know when a Sonic boss is "good" or "bad" - I prefer them to be visually interesting, but easy and over soon so I can explore the next zone. I've not watched any full playthroughs of the game yet, I'm waiting to experience them myself. Before SAGE this year I played a lot of the best/most professional 2d Sonic fangames from recent times and for me, some of them were as good if not better than some official games, but the bosses were always the things that I felt held them back. Boss design is seemingly hard to get exactly in that sweet spot.
In my own big platform adventure, I've somewhat cheated in that there are mini bosses of more powerful characters that you meet along the way, but the handful of actual "boss fights" that stop you progressing further in the story play like big eventful turn based FF battles, so that if you find any particular boss too hard, you can go and grind and build your XP, or buy more potions, craft more spells etc. I'm aware this will be a matter of contention for some, but its my game I can make what I want! lol
@BTB20 Those games were both near universally prasied by the gaming press at the time mostly because the previous Mario and RARE games were so universally loved, and the games were so anticipated. A bit like how music critics panned "Whats the Story Morning Glory" then realised the public loved it... so they universally praised "Be Here Now" because they thought fans would love it... only for it to be extremely divisive.
More modern critiques of Sunshine and DK64 are a lot more varied in their opinion. Some will absolutely tear them to shreds for the very same reasons that others will praise them. I would say both are an acquired taste, and whether you think they are excellent, or terrible, you are correct. Its uncommon to find people that fall inbetween, but I think I'm one of them. Both games are games I can play in short bursts and enjoy, obviously high quality products, but neither are games I've ever felt compelled to complete... they both get tiresome for me after a while, whereas Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie I can play start to finish over and over. But I understand how others could feel the exact opposite way.
@Woderwick Haha oh no offense taken I'm absolutely very close to the stereotypical obsessive Sonic fan. I have an unreasonably large and valuable collection of 32 years worth of Sonic related tat and its the #1 thing I'm likely to drop the masking and go on a fully autistic rant about. There are a handful of things I'm very passionate about but Sonic is the only thing others have described as being "like your religion" 😂 I was so trepidacious about the first Sonic movie that I cried in the cinema when I realised I actually thought it was quite good. I also cried when Amy was anounced as playable in Sonic Origins Plus. I'm aware this is very irrational behaviour for a guy in his 40s. But I just love these characters and worlds.
My birthday was last week and my mum asked what I wanted, I asked for a very specific cover variant of a one-shot Sonic comic book, and a physical copy of a Sonic game that I already own several times, because it has different regional artwork on the cover. On the day, my mother very patiently listened to me explaining excitedly exactly why each one was so cool and important, probably for a good 2 hours before I realised she was probably just being polite and there was no way she could possibly understand why this meant anything to me. 🤣
Over the years I've written many articles, helped with many youtube videos, even tv shows about Sonic... I have an ongoing documentary project about Sonic history with many big names involved... I'm also making my own Sonic fangame collection of remakes and reimaginings of all the classic games with the features and characters that fans most request but Sega always leave out... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvTiAmOH8MM allegedly for the fans, but mostly because its something I really, really want to exist. 😅
I say that I'm "very close to" the steroetypical fan, in that I'm at least rational and able to perfectly understand exactly why some people dislike Sonic, why certain games, shows and comics are "bad", how it became somewhat of a meme and some Sonic fans got a reputation as being a little... um... unusual? I don't blindly think everything Sonic is good, far from it. But I root for the brand and characters over all, and right now as a (somewhat long suffering) fan I'm very happy with the direction everything is going. I've not felt this confident in the overall quality of Sonic media since the 90s.
And no I haven't played Superstars yet... I've edited what I wrote to try and make that clearer. I was just summarisied all the reviews. But for an experienced player familiar with the nuances of everything involved, I don't need to play it to know that the physics and controls are just right, and that I love the graphics and music, and level themes. So for me who just wants "more classic Sonic"... its an easy 9/10 unless anything unforseen ruins that. I don't care about the specific emerald powers or the co-op mode, they are just nice novelties tacked on to the game I actually want.
I think co-op could be highly broken but a right laugh and great fun with mates and a few beers sat around the couch, or fun for families to play together. But there's no way in heck it will be a balanced experience, Sonics speed and branching paths don't allow that for the exact reasons you pointed out. The reason I've not mentioned my opinion on this before is firstly its a minor feature in the game to me, and this is also how I've felt about other games that other people absolutely love, so I thought maybe its just me?
For example back in the day, everyone raved about how great the MicroMachines games were in multiplayer - and I've never understood that. Constantly stopping and starting every time someone went off screen just seems madness to me for a top down racing game where there is no way all 4 cars will be at the same speed. It never made sense to me, and it plays really disjointedly. Yet I didn't care because I like the 1 player experience a lot and the creativity of the environments really sparked my imagination. I didn't enjoy the multiplayer aspect for the same reason I think that Sonic multiplayer on a single screen won't work... I think my issue is, for me, both Sonic and racing games are about speed and smoothness, so the stop start nature is jarring. But I've stayed quiet as I'm sure other people will enjoy it, just like seemingly everyone but me loved multiplayer MicroMachines. For me, the single player is what I'm focusing on, and it looks perfect for my taste 😀
So far Metacritic is showing mostly 9s and 8s for the PS5 version, with some 7s and only one below 6. Overall averaging at 7.5, exactly what I predicted. For a Sonic fan, that reads as a 9! lol. 😂 The Push Square review is one of the lowest scores and certainly seems harsh compared to others, but having read the entire review, and a few others, I understand why theres a big descrepancy.
TLDR: If you want a single player classic Sonic game that follows the formula well and has some fun new ideas: that's exactly what you get. For the reviews so far it seems - buy it, its great, you won't come away dissapointed.
However, if your main hope was to have a new experience with the chaos emerald powers reinventing the wheel... or if you were primariliy looking forward to playing this co-op, again a new experience for Sonic fans, again from the reviews so far, looks like you'll be disappointed as neither works especially well.
Yeah, I totally get that. Frankly, I never expected either aspect to be particularly good or game changing, but that wasn't why I was excited for the game. For me, even from the first trailer, the co-op aspect was "thats a neat feature but I can't imagine it working particularly well because of the speed and branching paths... good for a laugh as a side mode though I guess"... and for the chaos emerald powers I actually hoped they weren't too major a part - I love stock classic Sonic platforming and I'm never keen when they add too many gimmicks. For me, the really good Sonic Colours was slightly spoiled by the emphasis on the wisps. I hoped it wouldn't be the same for this game. But I was still super hyped for the game, just to get exactly what I want - more classic Sonic, made to a high standard with new graphics, zones and gimmicks.
So even though I've not managed to play it yet (can't wait for the 17th!) my prediction is it will be an easy 9/10 for me... sounds like the chaos powers will be minimal of an intrusion and just a fun distraction every now and again... and I was never likely to play this multiplayer more than a handful of times. As a single player classic Sonic experience, after reading the reviews, I'm even more sure I'll love it. 😍
@durian @NinjaNicky @locky-mavo @AnnoyingFrenzy "Pipe" is also a slang term for penetration in rap culture. I think combining the two might be what set the writer's double entendre alarm off.
Though I've gotta say it doesn't really sound dirty to me. It's literally a pipe moving like an inch worm. Do American audiences use the word caterpillar? That's the only other way I would have described it.
Comments 1,500
Re: Sonic Superstars Gets A Day One Update On Switch
@UltraZelda64 The blurry background is usually called "depth of field" or "shallow DOF" and may be able to be turned off in the options / accessibility? If not, thats another thing Sega should patch in and should have been there since day one. Many people like it, as it looks like a movie with selective focus, but for others it gives them motion sickness. I actually really like that effect, but its definitely a matter of taste when it comes to games and its very easy to code a toggle.
On Switch Lite I've found I naturally switch between the Dpad the majority of the time and occasionally to the left analogue stick in parts where I'd naturally use the rolling of the d-pad on a Sega controller. I don't have the Megadrive Switch controller yet but I do have several of the Retro Bit MD and Saturn pads, looking forward to playing Superstars with them when I get home. It really does "feel" like the 16bit titles to me, so having the "right" controller in my hand for them will be great!
I'm sorry to hear about the DLC not working for you. Again, thats really bad and Sega need to fix that asap. Hope you get it sorted 😀
Re: Sonic Superstars Gets A Day One Update On Switch
@Nua Thanks! Its not something I've ever done before, but its very frustrating having Sonic and Mario arrive so close to each other, and being I've literally bought 3 copies already, I feel entirely morally justified! As I said, I wouldn't have even mentioned it, I thought most people would just do what you did and assume it arrived early, as many people's copies have. Also, people know I'm in the industry, and work on games tv shows and media, so I may even have had a review code. If I thought me posting a mini review one day early meant people would think I was encouraging piracy, I wouldn't have done it! But it seems a stretch to me, I dont' know why they jumped to that 😂
I would never download a current gen game that I don't buy. I do sometimes download Switch games that I own physical copies of, but this is so that I can play them on PC, usually if the performance is bad or for accessibility reasons - notably Links Awakening to improve the framerate and be able to use a D-Pad, and Animal Crossing so I can feel secure that I won't ever lose my island. I'm autistic and the idea of working for literal years on making the perfect island only to lose it when the servers go down is heartbreaking to me, my villagers are alive! lol. But again, I feel entirely fine doing this, because I always buy the physical game. Almost always brand new, retail price, launch day.
I've made clear that I DO play roms and abandonware for old games, but we've discussed the moral implications of this at length on Time Extension, and its a far deeper subject than should be handled in this post. I'm also well known in retro circles for having a very extensive collection of retro items anyway, I mostly use roms for convenience. However, I don't think the person calling me out would have an issue with me doing this anyway, being that they themselves post a lot about jailbreaking their devices and playing roms on them.
Re: Sonic Superstars Gets A Day One Update On Switch
@blindsquarel To prevent people lending the game to friends to install, returning it to the shop or selling on their physical copy after installing it. The physical game is basically primitive DRM for many games.
Re: Sonic Superstars Gets A Day One Update On Switch
@r1chard If you mean me, I've made it very clear multiple times on this site that I pre-ordered physical shelf copies for Switch and PS5, plus Steam for the innevitable mods. Several people already have their physical copies a week ago because mom and pop shops don't care about release dates. I never once said I was playing a pirated copy, let alone "flexed" about it. I've bought physical copies of every Sonic game since 1991, and after 1995, all of them have been on launch day. In fact for most games I buy multiple copies to collect them, and get regional differences in packaging. I'm well known for being obsessive about this stuff 😂
However, in this case, yes I did download the leaked copy. I wouldn't have mentioned it as i don't want to encourage people to do the same, especially if they don't intend to buy. I want this game to sell well. Again, I've been very vocal about this. Both my Switch consoles are "jailbroken" not for piracy but because I literally develop commercial Switch games. I downloaded to try it 2 days early, simply because I want to spend as much time with it as possible before playing Mario (which I have also pre-ordered, and haven't downloaded, despite it leaking, because I'm playing Sonic). I'm buying myself 2 days of playtime so that I can further enjoy the other physical game I've preordered. As I said, I'm house sitting for my mum at the moment, but when I get home, I'll have 2 nice physical copies sat on my doormat. I have no problem with playing a game I've already paid £140 for (£60 on Steam, 2x£40 for the physicals, from Hit).
Re: Sonic Superstars Gets A Day One Update On Switch
@BTB20 Sure, I would usually describe a title as a "single player" game or a "multi player game". However, what I wrote started "I think as a pure one player Sonic experience...", the "pure" as a descriptive emphasis makes it read better in my opinion as "one" rather than "single", principally because this games does allow multiplayer, and indeed has been somewhat advertised to emphasise the multiplayer aspects, none of which I think are actually any good. So I was trying to make extra clear that my mini review of the game was only for if you are hoping to experience it purely by yourself. One person, even though its technically a multiplayer game and marketed as such.
If you are hoping to predominantly play this game as multiplayer... I'd probably drop my 8.5/10 to a 6. The main game play doesn't lend itself to multiplayer and the battle mode is frankly rubbish, imo.
@Mauzuri As I said, many (most? all?) of them, you can attack whilst they are attacking, and also, you can get multiple hits per cycle. I discovered this myself very simply in some of them. And considering I managed that in most, I'd hazard a guess that with experimenting, better players than be will be able to get it down to a fine art.
I don't really have a fully formed opinion on the soundtrack right now. When playing I was often thinking "this music is cool" but so far after 2 playthroughs and a lot of messing around with time attacks and trying different characters, none of it jumps out as instantly memorable, unlike, say, the first time I heard Green Hill Zone at a friends house and it was stuck in my head for months. I wasn't humming along with anything by my second playthough. I didn't think any music was bad, although I did notice a couple looped quicker than I'd have liked.
Again as per my comment above, I'm not going for the hard sale, I'm not mortally offended if people don't like the game or don't want to try it. But that complaint I keep seeing about the bosses simply isn't true. I even went into my first playthrough expecting the bosses to be tedious because of what I'd heard, and pretty much instantly realised people who were saying this were just kinda bad at the game, so I thought I'd mention that incase that was the primary issue putting you or others off.😅
Re: Sonic Superstars Gets A Day One Update On Switch
@UltraZelda64 Interesting. Can't say as I noticed, but I've only been playing on the Switch Lite so far, and just through its speakers, so I wouldn't be able to properly judge. (I'm house sitting while my mum is on holiday.) If the sound mix is off, thats definitely something very important to fix, music is so important in Sonic titles.
BTW for everyone reading my posts here and elsewhere, I know some of my posts seem like I'm just sticking up for this game like a shilling fanboy but I'm not beyond noticing problems or things I'd like to be fixed or added. I'd never remotely claim its perfect, its typical modern Sega "its NEARLY great... BUT..." - definitely room to improve, even though I really like most of whats there so far.
Re: Sonic Superstars Gets A Day One Update On Switch
@Mauzuri I'm mystified by how much I hear this I can only assume they are playing badly and not trying to attack the bosses except when its explicitly obvious they are vulnerable. Thats like the "easy mode" Sega put in there for kids or beginners who can't play platformers. Sonic is about speed. For skilled players and risk takers, there are ways to make the fights go far faster. Most of them you can hit while they are attacking, sometimes multiple times per cycle. I'm looking forward to seeing what speed runners manage to work out.
I've completed the game twice and no boss even remotely took 10 minutes... I wasn't timing but I'm put money on not even 5. However there were a couple of them where on my first few tries I didn't realise you could attack them during certain attack patterns. Basically if you wait for their "down time" when they are briefly vulnerable, it could take ages, but thats just because you are playing safe and not experimenting.
But if you are brave and accurately jump over their projectiles, get to higher ground, or run underneath them and attack them from behind, you can breeze through them much, much quicker. Perhaps the bosses where you have to chase them would take a long time if you were bad at platforming so they kept getting away... though again, eventually they will wait for you to catch up. Easy mode.
The one exception is the last boss. Its not very original and the first attack patterns is tedious and it seems random as to whether you get the blue projectiles that you need to hit fall in the right place for you to be able to get them... unless I'm just being stupid and theres a specific place to stand to get it right. Assuming not, its just bad design. I didn't feel that about any of the other bosses or mini bosses. Its a shame that the very last boss leaves me with a bad impression (I also dislike the gimmick of the Act 2 level that leads up to it) but everything up to that point is somewhere between "perfect fine" and "actually thats really cool". I've not got all the emeralds yet, so I've not tried whatever the Super Sonic version of the last boss is, I hope its better, not just identical but longer.
Also bare in mind that in both my play throughs I didn't use the chaos powers a single time (I prefer the pure platforming experience, and frankly I forget they even exist. They are not needed to complete the game except the mini "tutorial" when you first pick up each one to learn what it does). If you are finding a particular boss is taking too long, just use one of the chaos powers, like in Streets of Rage where you can "cheat" and call in the squad to firebomb everything on screen! Thinking about it, I should have done this for the last boss when I started finding it annoying.
Re: Sonic Superstars Gets A Day One Update On Switch
@WhiteTrashGuy I've been playing on Switch Lite (so not docked) & its rock solid. Pleasantly surprised, I was expecting it to struggle in intense moments. That said, obviously I only played single player (so just one charcter on screen).
Re: Sonic Superstars Gets A Day One Update On Switch
I can't imagine the update changes anything significant, I've been playing on Switch Lite without the update and its really good! No crashes or wobbles at all. I'm extremely happy with the performance and how it looks on Switch. And it looks beautiful 😍
As for the game itself, its not perfect but its extremely good. On my first playthough, during the first half I was genuinely saying to myself "is this my favourite Sonic game ever? No, surely can't be..." 😱 Sadly the second half isn't quite as strong - however it also takes more risks in this part, switching up playstyles and adding a lot of variety, so I'm sure some will prefer it & find the early stuff too "unoriginal", or easy.
Surprisingly, the "story" is actually really cool, theres lots of cutscenes and really neat surprises and even when playing through as Sonic you have to do a single level as Tails, Knuckles and Amy at various points throughout the game, which move the story along and its really nice they are all properly involved not just an afterthought. Amy is as always my favourite character, and she plays really well!
To my surprise, Trip is a delight. I won't spoil why. Also, I should say the animation of the characters, their reactions and facial expressions etc are really good. They feel alive, not just stiff models being posed. Obviously the 2d animated intro is good and the ending animation is really great too. Music is really good, though none of it is stuck in my head yet...
I've seen some people complain about the bosses, but for me the only weak one is the final boss. All the others (including the mini bosses) I enjoyed and found fun and not frustratingly challenging. Some may think they are too easy, but for me playing through the whole game start to finish many times I'm glad I won't be dreading any of them.
Theres a lot of variety in the Zones ranging from "pretty good" to "amazing". No zone plays exactly like a previous Sonic game, each have unique and fun ideas, some of which could only be done with 3d graphics. Theres a really fun and very surprising homage to another early Sega mascot that I won't spoil, and I think many will appreciate the novelty, although personally I felt that section wasn't as polished as the rest. When the stages are amazing, I mean they are amazing. Up there with the best.
Its just a bit barebones in extras. Time Attack (very welcome in a Sonic game of course) and a very nicely presented world map that means you can revist any level at any time during a playthrough... but then thats it for Sonic content/modes.
The Sonic medals that you can try and find throughout the levels are a really nice challenge but unfortunately all they do is allow you to buy very basic upgrades for your generic robot in the "battle mode"... which is not very good. I can't imagine ever wanting to go back to it after a quick experiment, you can't use Sonic characters in it, so it feels weirdly tacked on. I'm sure some will get enjoyment out of it, especially in multiplayer. But to me it felt like an unrelated mobile game that I wasn't sure why it was there in my Sonic game 🤔
However, that doesn't take anything away from the main game. I think as a pure one player Sonic experience, its a 8.5/10 for me, and if pushed for a single digit I'd round it to 9. Still absolutely up there with the likes of Mania and the 16bit games for a fun playthrough and a game I'll play repeatedly for many years to come, just as I do with them. 🥰
Re: Community: 28 Switch Games We Missed, As Recommended By You
@somnambulance Yeah I downloaded the demo for PC and really loved it. I'm looking forward to playing it through properly 😀
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
@dudujencarelli Oh man yeah I remember those Sonic Heroes ones being tough! Yeah the Superstars ones seem fair, I just need to get used to the new playstyle and the nuances of how it works.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
@dudujencarelli Yeah, I don't know exactly how it will work in Superstars, I've been mostly trying to avoid spoilers and just play through the game and discover stuff for myself. So far I'm finding the special stages where you get the emeralds really fun but quite difficult, its gonna take me some practice before I get them all!
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
@dudujencarelli I've just completed the game for the first time. I honestly really enjoyed the majority of the bosses and mini bosses, which is saying something as they are usually my least favourite part of a Sonic game.
None of them stuck out to me as "bad" and most were very creative. Probably my least favourite was the last encounter with Robotnik, actually (and the build up to it, which I won't spoil but I'm not a really a fan of that one last act). Though in this first playthrough I only had 3 emeralds, I imagine like most 2d Sonic games if I'd have had all the emeralds there would have been an extra stage to the fight or maybe even a whole new end boss or different / extra last act?
Of course, thats only my impression from the first playthrough while I was excited to see everything, remains to be seen which ones may feel tedious on repeat playthroughs. As for the weakpoints, I found each boss pretty obvious right away what it was I was supposed to do, but there was some waiting for some of them inbetween moments when they are able to be attacked. Nothing major and overall I thought they were good.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
For anyone still here looking for Sonic content after we accidentally hijacked this thread (sorry!) I've been playing the Switch version of Superstars and oh boy is it good! 😍 Posted my thoughts so far here: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/10/round-up-the-reviews-are-in-for-sonic-superstars#comments
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
Just wanted to add that for the last half hour or so I've been playing the Switch version of Sonic Superstars and so far its everything I wanted it to be. Its literally PERFECT. 😍 Zero compaints! Runs like a dream and graphics look amazing on the portable screen. Any concern about performance or fidelity right out the window. Its sharp and smooooooth. Controls just as responsive as the best 2d Sonics.
I've finished the first 3 Zones as Sonic in single player and I've enjoyed all the bosses and mini bosses so far, the zone themes and gimmicks are great, The bonus stage where you are kinda spiderman rope swinging through space is good fun, though I've only managed to get the emerald on the first one and failed at every other attempt so far, I'll obviously need to practice.
The "Sonic 1 bonus stage" spinning mini game / special stage is something I wasn't particularly looking forward to but its GREAT. Controls really well, looks beautiful, and is so much more fun than the Genesis original. Genuine surprise there, the Sonic 1 bonus stage is my least favourite of all the Sonic games, so to have it be a highlight of my playtime so far is quite amazing.
All in all, based on my first experiences with from the first 3 zones, if you are a classic Sonic fan wanting a single player experience, there's no way this isn't a 9/10. I am absolutely delighted. And if you are concerned about how it will run or look on Switch, don't be. Sure if you pause the game and pixel peep, some of the textures are soft compared to the other versions, but its super crisp and when moving and concentrating on your character, its literally perfect. 🥰 I recomend this without any hesitation.
[edit] Yup, I'm editing this 7 hours later after I made this comment, and have been playing it solidly ever since! I should probably think about getting some sleep its 6am, completely lost track of time 😅 I completed the game as Sonic, although only with 3 chaos emeralds, and I've been experimenting with other characters etc since. Its a very very solid experience with some really cool surprsies along the way. I think the first half of the game is stronger than the second, though the second takes more risks and is more varied. As a single player experience for fans of 2d classic Sonic games, this is a solid 9. Not perfect, but darn close. For platform fans without the Sonic bias, maybe an 8 for the uneven second half. Fang and especially Trip are highlights, I love Amy's implementation. Not sure about the battlemode and the unlockable/earnable armour and stuff for it, but it might be something I can get into.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Woderwick Thanks again mate. As I said, I'm privilidged to have them in my life and to have watched them grow into peopel far greater than I could hope to be.
As for American Tabloid, I haven't read it but I'm very aware of the subject matter and a lot of it is based on fact and real people. On your strong recomendation I've just gone and put all 3 books in my wishlist on Amazon to remind me to get them as soon as I get a moment to actually sit still and read something! (usually when I'm traveling for work).
Originally, Bruce Willis's production company bought the option (meaning that no other company can adapt it) but sat on it til it expired (read a conspiracy into that if you want!). Interestingly it now lies with Playtone, Tom Hanks' company, supposedly because he wants to turn it into a multipart drama. For very obvious legal reasons I can't say why, but assuming that they are genuinely developing it rather than purposefully preventing it getting made is especially interesting given certain things about Hanks. Hmm.
Entirely unrelated observation: Certain circles of Hollywood seem to delight in telling on themselves.
[edit] hah scrap that, he did indeed sit on it. He got those rights back in 2008 and nothing has materialised. Typical. Scary how in my mind I read that news just a few years ago. Getting old sucks!
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Woderwick Aw, that's lovely, thanks mate. Though the honour and pleasure of having my kids in my life is all mine. I'm exceptionally lucky to be associated with 2 such amazing people. I'm sure I've learned more from them than they could possibly learn from me. I don't talk about private life online so I'll leave it at that, but they have grown into 2 incredible people and while I don't credit myself for that, I couldn't be more proud of them.
And yeah, spot on with the real criminal types. Also the higher you rise in society and the more powerful "legit" people you work with, you realise there's very little difference between big business and organised crime, always the two cross paths and and often they merge. At the very least, they co-exist very comfortably often because of each other - but to an even higher extent, the most successful businesses (and indeed organisations and institutions) are just criminality wrapped up in fancy legal jargon and obfuscicating paperwork.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Woderwick I'm sorry to hear of all the problems, and I'm very glad you got that sorted. There is absolutely NO excuse for that kind of ignorance in Britain in this day and age. Still think you could easily have had a justified lawsuit on your hands! I would have been furious. I'm furious on your behalf just thinking about it 😤
And I totally agree on chosen family. There are a small but carefully selected group of people in my life that I love just as much as any blood relative. Not only that but I have 2 kids only one of whom is "biologically" mine and that fact matters not one tiny jot (in fact I 100% forget most of the time until people bring up subjects like this). I very much chose to bring both my children into my life and I love them more than anything. 🥰
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Woderwick Wait, wutt? A mixed race child can't have corn-rows because of "gang connotations" ?! Are you f'in kidding me? I'd have gone right to the local press and also phoned a lawyer. Thats about as blatant internalised institutional racism as you get. Black hairstyles are very important culturally, sometimes even religiously linked. I've never heard of any London gang where rows are compulsary (and I've worked with people from many a London gang, in both music and movies). Did they even consider googling their historical significance or why they are so common for people of colour to wear? Good lord.
Also, yeah, sadly there's been a lot of stuff quietly going around about that dude over the years, not least from his own son. Innocent til proven guilty of course but as you say, his revelling in joking about or simulating some of the nastier things in life as part of his stage act makes some of it easier to believe. Real shame when stuff like that enforces stereotypes of certain alternative cultures or helps certain media figures to be able to claim that media personalities should be taken at their word about what they say in songs rather than seeing it as acting or performance art. Recent and repeated revelations about Marilyn Manson also spring to mind.
Sometimes people believe their own on stage persona so much that it bleeds into their personal lives... but of course 99.9% of the most violent/scary metal artists and gangster rappers are actually the sweetest most shy people off stage. I have travelled with many of them, and can attest to this! Also, I ghost wrote lyrics for a lot of them and I'm about as lefty liberal wet rag as you get 😂
Re: Community: 28 Switch Games We Missed, As Recommended By You
@Narwhalnut I just downloaded the demo for PC and played it through, its EXCELLENT. I love everything about the presentation, the variety of locations and the world building even in just that little snippet of the demo is perfect!
I 100% definitely will buy it to play after I've finished Sonic & Mario, I'm very impressed, and looking forward to seeing more 😊
Re: Super Mario Bros. Wonder Leaked Online Ahead Of Next Week's Release
@KryptoniteKrunch OMG I hadn't heard that Superstars leaked! Thank you! I've bought that game multiple times already but am desperate to play it early... downloading right now, hope I can get it working.
Frankly, I really want to play Mario Wonder too, but not until I feel I've really fully explored Superstars, so even getting to try it 2 days early helps! 😅
Re: Community: 28 Switch Games We Missed, As Recommended By You
@Narwhalnut As mentioned above, I LOVE the look of your game, its gone right to the top of my "must buy" indie list! 😍 Once I'm done with Sonic Superstars and Mario Wonder it will perfectly continue my spree of 2d retro platforming goodness! Really appreciate the hand drawn 2d cover art too! Fits the early 90s style perfectly.
Re: Community: 28 Switch Games We Missed, As Recommended By You
@Ironcore I love Raindrop Sprinters! I really enjoyed chatting to the dev @room_909 in the comments on this site, and I've been playing it ever since 😻
Re: Community: 28 Switch Games We Missed, As Recommended By You
Oh man, almost every game here looks like one I'd really enjoy! GREAT picks everyone! I'd love full reviews of all of these please NLife staff!
Belle Boomerang looks like the closest to something I'd make myself (which is a big compliement from me as I only make things that are 100% to my taste and want to wish into existence!) I love the character and the aesthetics are right on point.
That Squad 51 absolutely nails the visual style of those old movies, its uncanny! Even during gameplay teh ships move like they are on strings, like an early Gerry Anderson show. Whatever shader they are adding to the gameplay really replicates the look of black and white 35mm film excellently.
I feel bad just singling out 2 though as all of these look really cool, unique, creative and fun. Exactly why I love the current indie scene!
Re: The First Review For Sonic Superstars Is Now In
@HaileySheridon I played pretty much all of those early 2d platform games for PCs too! Though we didn't get our PC til 1995 so I was catching up with old classic from shareware collections. I agree there was definitely a period where they stopped making platformers for PC, but then things acme back around and many of the big platform titles from the 16bit consoles and Amiga started to be ported to the PC - Disney games like Aladdin & the Lion King, mascot titles like Zool, Cool Spot, Super Frog, James Pond etc all had perfect ports. Of course as you mentioned before the PC also got a port of Sonic CD (and S3&K) in the mid 90s too! But there weren't that many exclusive PC platformers anymore - biggest I remember from that era was Jazz Jackrabbit.
Yeah I really don't know why Microsoft haven't made a new Banjo game yet, there is obviously a massive market demand for it, and they should capitalise on it whilst people who are nostalgic for eth series are still at the age when they are buying new games and sharing them with their kids. Havign Banjo added to Smash (and getting an Amiibo!) was a huge deal and showed how much love there still is for the characters, they are sitting on a goldmine and its frustrating as if they wait too long, it will just die out. Yes you are right that the Yooka Laylee games are basically made by old Rare staff, so they are spiritual successors to Banjo and DKC, thats why I brought them up - I agree there is huge potential for them to make another 3d platformer taking onboard the criticism of teh first one, and Nintendo or Microsoft should definitely hire them to make a new DK or Banjo game.
Yes while my business partner was a very successful streamer she was mostly known for Minecraft, Stardew, Sims all played through PC and other titles that didn't invovle any kind of dual analogue stick controls. It took her a while to adjust but it was funny and rewarding to see her master it. Her audience really loved rooting for her to succeed and cheering when she finally managed a tricky jump.
Yes I'm definitely glad you reminded me of Ary because I meant to try it out, and now I definitely will. The developer was certainly a very nice guy and very passionate about the character, I hope he gets to do more with her in the future 😀
Re: Feature: What Video Game Consultants Actually Do, And Why ‘Kit & Krysta’ Are Doing It
@Princess_Lilly Yes, the earliest 8bit Microcomputers were all basically just little programming workstations - they didn't come with any kind of graphical operating system, just booted up with a flashing cursor ready for you to type (in code) whatever you wanted it to do next. From that, all of them accepted either high level machine code or simple to learn "BASIC" language programming, so you could just turn them on and immediately start coding, then save your program/game to tape or disc, and then share it with others!
In the UK, the best selling computers of the 80s were Sinclair's Spectrum range, Sir Clive Sinclair made it his mission to make the first "complete computer" for under £100 and therefore affordable for all homes, they would all come with a book teaching you simple programming. He wanted every child to learn to code. The machines all supported colour graphics, sprites, sound... you could easily recreate 70s/early 80s arcade titles and make semi approximate versions of NES titles. If your parents cound afford a slightly more expensive computer like the C64, the results could be even closer. Similarly, the UK government worked with the BBC and Acorn computers to ensure that every school had "free" computers and taught BASIC programming to all students!
Sadly, once graphical user interfaces and mice because a thing, the emphasis on teaching kids to code disappeared and computer lessons became about word processing and spreadsheets, nowhere NEAR as useful longterm and moving kids to grow up into consumers rather than creators, and workers rather than CEOs. (of course, thats basically what capitalist governments prefer... consumers buy things, profits are higher with an abundance of cheap unskilled labour. But thats a rant for another day). But the brief insistence on affordable computers and compulsary programing lessons in schools for just under a decade is what lead to an explosion of many of the biggest videogames companies in the world during the 32bit era (Rockstar, Codemasters, Psygnosis, Core Design etc) coming from the UK - they were all my age and had first learned on Spectrums/Commodores/Amstrads.
I was especially lucky in that my dad was a teacher who in the late 1970s had specifically trained to teach kids programming. He bought a very expensive and high end (for the 70s!) Commodore business workstation to practice at home, and as soon as I was old enough (about 6-7 I think!) he started to teach me how to code for it. So even though he was very strict and didn't want me to have videogames, he taught me to make my own instead! I wasn't finally allowed to have a console til Christmas 93, but by that time I'd make my own clones of many of the most popular games that I covetted... Sonic, Mario, Dizzy, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat... looking back on it now, very fun times and I learned a lot!
It was actually the norm for even the biggest and most successful games of the mid 80s to have either single person or very small teams. "big budget" titles often had one person programming, one making the graphics, and one making the music. All other people in the credits were things like play testers, or marketers, legal licensing, financing etc, not actually making the games. This even applies to very famous arcade games, early NES and Gameboy titles... For example, Super Mario Bros was just 5 people.
Being that all of the personal computers of the time (even 16bit ones like Amiga and Atari ST) didn't require any development kits and could be programmed on pretty much straight out of the box, it was perfectly feasible at that time for a passionate kid in his bedroom to make a game that ended up being a #1 best seller! There was always stories in the news of young British teenagers paying off their parents mortgages and buying ferraris as their first car! This was very inspiring to me. Infact, you mentioned Rare's Jetpac... that's a perfect example, as that game was made by just 2 people, the Stamper brothers, made on a £100 computer the ZX Spectrum, self published (as "Ultimate Play the Game"), and made over £1 million in sales! I don't know the exact age of the Stamper brothers at the time, but they couldn't have been older than their very early 20s when that happened.
Even early 3d titles like Doom only had a handful of staff, Tomb Raider and Mario 64 less than 20... so it was possible for a talented indie to recreate similar results by themselves well into the mid 90s. It was only once the scope of games became more abitious and expectations for quality and variety of graphics and professional music became much higher towards the end of the 90s with enormous cinematic experiences like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 2 that it started to feel impossible to compete without large budgets... and the DC/PS2/GC/Xbox/ 3D accelerated PC generation cemented this and drove the wedge further away. I could have pivoted to mobile games but at the time the hardware was very limited, and again, always changing. There was no standard for developing one game that would run on all devices (that is why Unity became a thing shortly after).
I completely agree on your thoughts on the RDR-style game. At no point would I claim that what the solo dev created was "good". Just that its an impressive achievement considering he started from nothing and made everything himself, including all the art assets (rather than buying pre-made stock ones). In my opinion though, he was on a fools errand. Its simply not possible for a single person to make a game of that level of ambition by themselves with no budget. This is why I am so happy that there is now a market for more 16bit retro-style titles - as this is what I've always loved making.
I really love StarDew and Freedom Planet. I certainly agree that I actually personally usually prefer the best indie titles to most AAA games. Other than Nintendo, Sega and a handful of other companies, I usually only play retro games and indie games nowadays, the modern AAA experience usually is completely uninteresting to me. But its all a matter of taste and I'm glad that there is now room in the market for both to exist (and everything inbetween!). I've not played Yomawari, nor do I know much about it but I've just watched the trailer and it looks like something I'll really enjoy! I know nothing of the development process, but its quite feasible that a talented creator could have made that by themselves, or with a couple of friends. And it looks wonderful! Thats inspiring to me... just like back in the "good old days" when I started out! 😀
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Woderwick Yeah agreed, if someone will judge you for something as simple as a first visual impression they probably aren't the kind of person you want to be friends with anyway!
Chappie was a great film. I remember first hearing Die Antwoord when they released "Enter the Ninja" and I recognised the "Whatever you like" sample and of course the meme/gamer Butterfly interpolation. I remember the lyrics amused me by throwing in random gaming references and also bits of 90s culture including several Vanilla Ice lyrics. As they were South African I wasn't sure if he was serious or if it was meant to be funny but it was certainly unique and memorable and I see why they gained a lot of traction after that.
I've subsequently heard lots of not very nice things about him, which of course is a real shame if true. In my industry, sadly, its becoming a liability to align myself with or even speak admiringly about anyone as turns out many have skeletons in their closet and then people say stuff like "you must have known!" "theres all these pictures of you together!" etc. Obviously I'm glad that we are now in the position where people can call out problems in the industry and poor behaviour etc, the thing that botherrs me is that it seems so prevalent and of course there is no way to know who is a "good" person or not. Anyway, side rant for another day. I agree that "purposefully bad / prison style" tattoos are cool in a punk rock "not art" kinda way!
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
@Mgalens Yup I'm exactly the same. I'm sure this will look just lovely on the 720p portable screen, especially as it doesn't do what many Switch games do and suddenly switch to 520, 480 or even 360p for a few seconds when it randomly feels like it to catch up... I'd 100% rather a simple looking game that keeps the native resolution of the screen perfectly, and maintains 60fps, than having a variable resolution or framerate.
@Dr_Corndog Yeah, agreed... though as an autistic person I still feel an obsessive need to score and organise everything in my own head all the time! Hypotheticals like which are my favourite shows, games, restaurants, meals, people etc etc... I totally have my own scorign system for games and the difference between a 97% and 98% in my head is VERY significant! But also very personal to me and I know others may feel differently, and that's fine. So I always read reviews as more of a single persons opinion, and try to guage whether their opinion sounds like one that may align with mine. The text of the review is always more important than the final verdict, as they may place the weight of importance on different things.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Woderwick Haha that's funny that your boss had that double standard... yeah military tattoos were the one exception for older generations that I nearly mentioned also in my previous post but it was already gettting pretty long! lol. I'm glad perceptions have changed nowadays. I'm not always a fan of other people's tattoos, but surely thats the point - they are for them, not me. Its a very personal thing and a way of expressing or remembering something important to you.
When we were talking before about how nice it is to hand write a letter, it made me think of the song "Tweet" by Alizée, but its in French so I didn't bother to mention it... essentially though the lyrics are about how in modern times romance is lost through just sending texts and likes, using hookup apps etc and not properly "courting" like our parents or grandparents generations did. Dancing, walking together, love letters.
However, now there is even more context to also talk about her so I will get it out of my autistic brain to get some closure! Long story short about her she is a very well known celebrity in France, for many years, starting off as somewhat of a French equivalent of Britney Spears in the lolita-esque early marketing, but she has stuck around in popularity to this day through various different career ebbs and flows. I've met her a few times through both the music industry and Disney (where she voices some French dubs and sings french versions of the movie songs) and she's lovely. To people in the English speaking world, she is quite infamous within certain gaming circles and some of the nerdier sections of the internet, for an old performance of hers going viral, basically for her doing a somewhat provocative dance that became a meme / milkable gifs and then was integrated as an emote / taunt in various videogames, including being the dance that the night elves in World of Warcraft do.
Anyway, this has lead to English speaking audiences mostly only really knowing her for that one performance ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6omsDyFNlk ), and idolising her beauty captured in that moment... but that was many years ago. Right after that performance, she got married, moved out of the limelight for a while to start a family, before coming back to release new albums later. She is still a very beautiful woman, but she's now 39, has had several kids and over the years has amassed quite a lot of tattoos. None of which should be remotely strange! Time passes, who'da thunk it?
It puzzles and saddens me to see how many knee-jerk appalled reactions there are to the fact that she "ruined herself" according to many random internet dwelling folk who somehow expect her to look exactly the same as she was when she was 19 in the video they obsess over, and how angry a few tattoos make them... especially as the majority of them are related to nerd friendly things like anime, videogames, fantasy, disney... I've talked to her about her tattoos and the stories behind some of them are very personal and quite moving but a lot of people are just "pretty woman shouldn't have tattoos" full stop. I don't understand why anyone would want to police what someone else does with their body...
As for me, no-one has told me not to get tattoos, and of course yes they can be covered for filming with makeup or even removed in post with CG. I've done that for my own projects. But I'm no-where near famous or important enough to be able to warrant taking any extra expense or time, as far as most casting directors are concerned! Easier and cheaper to find someone without! I'm easily replacable! 😂
Re: Random: Nintendo Shows Off Mario Riding The Inchworm Pipe
@Revolution_Falls @Lanmanna Thanks for the replies - I was genuinely interested if somehow "caterpiller" was an unknown term in America, but I was sure that couldn't be the case as I've heard American people reference "The Very Hungry Caterpiller" book, and also the "Catter-killer" badniks in Sonic games were named by Sega of America. I guess that rather than being a country specific term, "inch worm" is an older lesser used folk name, perhaps.
Re: Random: Nintendo Shows Off Mario Riding The Inchworm Pipe
@NinjaNicky Yeah I first heard "lay the pipe" in the early 2000s in some Rocafela and Def Jam stuff, I'm British and to begin with I had that association you did too. However, shortening it to just "pipe" is something I've heard in a lot of British rap/grime/drill etc.
I was never entirely sure if "inch worm" was an exclusively American thing, and just what they called catterpillas. I knew of it from that "measuring the marrigolds" song, which I think we did at school. 🤔 I've never heard a Brit say it outside of that context though.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
@SalvorHardin The textures are lower resoultion, sure, but they don't look bad (or unfinished) to my eyes at all. But that's just my perspective, so I posted a video specifically so people could make up their own minds, as everyone is going to have different expectations.
For me, I've bought multiple versions of this game as I do with all Sonic titles. I'm sure it will look stunning on my gaming PC. The Switch version is obviously the one with the least graphical detail. But from what I've seen I'm more than happy with being able to play this portably, I think it looks good and (more importantly) runs great at 60fps, and without resorting to dipping to super low resolutions like many Switch games do. Looks to be rock solid at 720p 60fps, and thats something not many Switch games can say nowadays, let alone multiplatform titles.
For people who have a different console or PC and don't care about portability, sure, this isn't the version to get. But for those who only have a Switch, or prioritise portability, this seems a pretty great option, to me at least.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
@Thomystic Yes I honestly think that's a factor. I'm the biggest Sonic apologist in the world but I do think that would have been a better price point so people would be a little kinder to it. That said, several retailers obviously agree as thats what they are selling it for, if you shop around. For example, in the UK (& europe?) Hit has it £39.85 with free delivery, physical, for all consoles.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
@120frames-please Here's a video of an hour of Switch gameplay, with a framecount on screen. I'm trying to avoid spoilers but flicking through to random parts I don't see it ever dip below 59.9 fps... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huDpKsmCnEk
Usually I'd be suspicious that Switch review codes don't seem to have been sent out... they've obviously downgraded the shaders and graphics detail a little to prioritise speed, but it still looks great to me, just like it did in the Switch traielrs we'd already seen.
Re: Random: One "New" Wii U Was Apparently Sold In The US Last Month
Honestly if I saw a brand new sealed Wii U out in the wild at standard RRP I'd buy it. I loved my Wii U, as did most of the handful of us that actually bought one 😂 The value is likely to skyrocket as these become harder and harder to find in new condition.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
@Guitario Thank you. Yes its a strange situation where if this were a single player experience only, without the expectation of multiplayer, I don't think it would be marked down for it. Perhaps expectations for some reviewers were raised by the focusing of some of the promotional material being on the multiplayer, and it becoming a headline feature because this hasn't really been a thing in the full mode of a Sonic game before. So ironically, by advertising this extra mode, it damages the perception of a game that would have perhaps left a better impression without it.
To me, I was always doubtful of how well Sonic gameplay would work in multiplayer, for reasons I covered in detail in yesterday's post (
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/10/site-news-so-wheres-our-sonic-superstars-review#comments ) so I've been 100% anticipating the single player experience. The only real negative I've heard of that is about the bosses, but I'm confident the main experience of the main acts of the zones (always my favourite part of Sonic games) will be absolutely top notch. Even the less favourably scored reviews pretty much universally say so. 😀
I'm not here to criticise anyone who's primary interest was in the multiplayer, or who was hoping the new chaos powers would somehow reinvent the wheel. But these are criticisms I personally can easily overlook as they don't affect what am looking forward.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
@Dr_Corndog Yeah that's how I feel too. Frankly, the Push Square review, and a few of the other ones I've read that scored on the lower end seem like an 8/10 had it been simply a single player experience. But by adding a slightly ill advised multiplayer mode, somehow that has knocked the score down than if it wasn't there at all.
To be clear, I'm not saying the scores are "wrong", not at all. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and the reviews I've read argue their cases well. But as someone who's only interested in the single player side, the negative reviews still read as mostly positive. 😀
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Superstars
Averaging 7.5 / 10 on Metacritic so far (only PS5 version has enough reviews to get an average yet) https://www.metacritic.com/game/sonic-superstars/
Which is exactly what I predicted before - I said "between 7 and 8", which is more than good enough for Sonic fans to get excited 😀
I made my feelings clear in more detail on yesterday's thread, but my TLDR is that it seems that if you are looking primarily for a single player experience that recreates the old Sonic games with a new coat of paint, this is a great game. If you were hoping the co-op multiplayer or Chaos emerald powers would improve or expand the experience at all, you'll be dissapointed, they don't add much.
Thankfully, I'm in the camp of "I just want a good single player Sonic game that feels like the old games, but with new stages". Personally, this is my most anticipated game of the year, and I'm very much looking forward to the 17th 😍
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@rushiosan If you mean Christian Whitehead, he has confirmed that they actually used his code for the physics in this one! And also there should be several retaillers selling this game at $40 if you shop around There certainly is in Europe, I've not paid more than £40 for my copies, delivered.
@Woderwick Ha! Honestly you sound like my kind of person. Its great that you are so confident in who you are nowadays, I'm sorry that it took a while to get there, that's certainly a sentiment I can empathise with very clearly.
I started getting my tattoos in my music industry days before having any concept that one day I would be an actor, I always planned on getting many more over time but as soon as I started getting roles in films I stopped as I realised it could limit what I could play, both in terms of tone but also time period. Nowadays I have to take care of my skin, body, diet, exercize etc as part of my job. (I'm far from an oil painting but Iook far better now than I did in my 20s!)
Again though I think the world today doesn't have as negative a perception of tattoos as it used to, you see just as many leftie liberal snowflakes (like me!) sporting them as biker gangs or football hooligans. Infact younger generations see it as more of a sign of being an artistic person and therefore likely to be kind or at least interested in talking to them about their ink and why they got each piece etc. Definitely more of a conversation starter than the "leave me alone" it used to be for our parents generation.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Woderwick Ah, I love everything about what you wrote there! Funny that you say you look like an extra from a Guy Ritchie film, that was literally the look and image I was somewhat typecast in for many years, both from my notariety in the rap music world and from earning my dues in the film industry working on countless low budget cockney gangster and football hooligan films. I got tattoos, shaved my head, worked out a lot and fully leant into it... as a somewhat effeminant kid who was bullied I must admit to have enjoyed cosplaying for a while as a "hard man" and leaning into the uber masculine traits and have people accept me as that.
After a while though I realised it wasn't all that fun and that some people were scared of me, or assumed I was sexist, racist, or violent... whereas I just thought I was being "manly" I was coming across as "Neo Nazi" after a while (only from appearance, not by IRL behaviour of course) ! Which is the absolute furthest from who I am. As soon as I started to get enough power to make my own projects, write my own scripts, get the parts I wanted etc I started purposefully going against that stereotype, getting parts in romances, comedies, growing my hair back (many colleages had assumed I was bald!) etc. I'm somewhat fascinated by societal gender constructs as none of them ever made much sense to me and as an autistic person I've just been feeling my ways around them all my life. Nowadays I'm at the point where I finally feel ok to just be unasahmedly me, and like what I like, act how I act etc. I think the world is a lot more accepting of that nowadays than it was when we were kids though.
I also have a very strong urge to take the mick out of myself, or want to be taken down a peg or two if ever I get too self important or am in a position where people are looking up to me. I've written several films where I end up playing the lead role, and in all of them I end up makign the character a bit of an arse who thinks he's cooler than he is. Often they think they are a ladies man but end up getting slapped or taken advantage of rather than actually coming off as cool to the audience. Even in my short lived but occasionally briefly reappearing rap career I just can't in all seriousness have the necessary confidence and bravado without also putting a load of self depricating jokes in there. There is definitely a British reserve that stops me from going full "aspirational figure / role model / sex symbol" in any American media I work in.
@Ristar24 Marble and Labyrinth aren't bad, per se. They are actually very nicely designed. Its just that it feels that they are from a completely different game, and it changes the flow very quickly. I recently saw a video about the history of the game's creation and the original designers explained quite succictly how each zone in Sonic 1 was purposefully designed to be a completely different gameplay experience in order to make what they hoped would be a well rounded game and show off the range of the character and the engine. I think they succeeded there, but for many people, Green Hill is so strong an impression that to immediately forcefully slow Sonic down feels jarring.
Forgot to mention it before but I'm impressed that you noticed the speed cap or lack there of. Theres a really difference between the momentum and speed differences between sonic 1, 2 and 3 and in my game engine for my fan game I've made sure to have toggleable options for players to choose which suits their prefered playstyle better.
Re: The First Review For Sonic Superstars Is Now In
@HaileySheridon Thank you for the detailled replies, I loved reading your personal history with Sonic and also your evolution through different consoles and discovering different characters and series that you like, and its great that nowadays you share them with your nieces,a nd also play new games together as well.
I agree its a huge shame that we haven't yet gotten a proper modern Banjo game. Did you play Yooka Laylee? I thought the 3d one was ok, but actually prefered the 2d one, which played very like a Donkey Kong Country title.
I too am really hoping for a proper new Spyro game like we got Crash 4. My business partner is younger than me and used to be a pretty successful Twitch streamer. She had never played a platform game before but her audience kept requestign she played the reignited trilogy, I have very fond memories of her struggling to get used to the controls but then slowly improving and getting really good while the chat cheered her on!
I actually briefly met Sebastien Le Touze, the creator of Ary, at a French games industry event (I think he's Belgian but there is a lot of crossover and colaboration between the two countries in all media) , I was very impressed with what I saw. Seemed like a cross between 3d platformers and a Zelda like experience? He talked passionately about the character and I really liked his vision for her. I should make time to play the full game, I'm sure I'd enjoy it.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Woderwick Aw, I'm glad you felt that way. There is something special about a handwritten note nowadays. I also like to make handmade cards or draw custom bits of art for people that I love. I think in these days where everything is so digital, it means more to have something tangible that someone took time to do, even if its just writing a quick note.
For obvious reasons I won't get into who, but one of the people I worked with and wrote a note to actually ended up being someone I worked with on a few projects, and if we happened to coincidentally be at the same industry events as each other they would recognise me and come over and say "hi", even sometimes breaking conversation or even temporarily stepping out of interviews to give me a hug. We got to be good friends and I even spent Christmas round their house one time for an incredible dinner. While I was there, they brought out a lovely scrap book that they keep as a reminder of big moments in their career, and they showed me that they had pasted my note into it, and said it really meant a lot to them. I was so happy that it meant a lot to them, I remember feeling somewhat timid in handing it over incase it would seem silly or insignificant to them.
I can totally see where you are coming from with the Fight Club connections there... in my headcannon I find it very hard to imagine Calvin and Hobbes ever growing apart, in the same way I can't with Snoopy and Charlie Brown, or Christopher Robbin outgrowing Pooh. Thats probably due to my own undealt with issues of refusing to grow up and leave aspects of my childhood behind! 😅 Thankfully I've managed to make a career out of it. The pressures on what it means to be a "man", especially in the current day and age, and how capitalism and a consumer society (and the effects of various political and social movements in that) are a huge point of interest for me, and actually the combination of these two points (men not wanting to grow up, not having a place in society, societal pushing of agendas for certain genders and social groups in order to feed the capitalist machine and make money) are the underlying themes of my first big Superhero movie that I wrote... can't say much more than that but I think you'll find it interesting judging by what you wrote!
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Ristar24 I absolutely know Turbo the Tortoise... I have the C64, Spectrum and Amstrad versions! I have somewhat of a soft spot for any game trying to recreate the appeal of Sonic, but on the 8 or 16bit microcomputers. The C64 version is definitely the best, though the Spectrum one is impressively smooth for the hardware. The reason it never got a sequel is that it was the last game by Hi-Tec Software just as they were in the process of sadly going bust. Infact Codemasters stepped in to somewhat save the game and many copies have a Codemasters logo instead of Hi-Tec.
Also, you just really took me down memory lane with mention of Index. Perhaps it was because we had an "Index Extra" but I definitely felt that they were better for console games than Argos, always a bigger selection and older games at very reasonable prices as well as the latest titles. Several times I'd go into the store with £60 saved up intending to buy a game for my newly acquired SNES and instead walk out with 5-6 Master System games that I'd missed out on instead! some absolute bangers as well! Asterix, Lemmings, Marble Madness, PacMania... 😍
Sonic 1 on Megadrive was the game that made me fall in love with the series of course... I played it at a friends house in 1991 on release and it genuinely felt like my whole world changed. I loved EVERYTHING about the character and Green Hill Zone (the only zone I got to see). I find the uneven pacing between the levels to be frustrating for replays (Marble Zone is my least favourite, so havign it right after Green Hill dampens my enthusiam for playthroughs) so for me its the wekest of the Megadrive titles, but still one I love to bits. I actually feel the Master System Sonic 1 is a better gaem, as do many, but certainly not all people! haha. But that first Green Hill Zone just really did everything right and was just in your face with awesome characters, concepts, and easily the best graphics and music I'd ever heard from a game until that point. That single experience is teh spark of why I've been pretty much obsessed ever since, not only with teh games, but the characters, music, designs... reading every comic, watching every show, making my own fan projects since I was a kid. Literally in 1991 I made a Commodore version of Sonic 1 so that I could play it, when I knew my parents couldn't afford a Megadrive. Also that summer holidays drew an enormous 20+ page comic, learned piano to play Green Hill Zone theme...
If you only played that PS4 version of Frontiers at launch, I think you'll find the game has massively improved since then, though I can't vouch for if performance has changed. Its not just vast amounts of new content thats been added but the controls have almost completely changed and been refined (and allow you to customise to make them feel how you prefer).
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Mgalens Yeah I love Mania too but I agree some of the bosses slow it down on replays. The Mean Bean Machine "boss" is actually my favourite, I was so delighted when playing that for the first time! That entire ending sequence of S3&K is absolutely amazing.
@Woderwick Hahah Your son sounds great, I'm sure we'd get on very well! Probably best to keep us apart though as you many not get a single word in edgeways, nor any sleep as we would just keep going for days about stuff that doesn't really matter, but for some reason it does to us. 😂
In many ways you and I are very similar and have a lot of shared interests, as we've discovered before! I could write a good couple of paragraphs at least about almost everything you just briefly mentioned. I've no idea how Calvin and Hobbes is Fight Club, but as a big fan of both I think thats something that deserves a long discussion over a pint one day! 😅
Thats really, really cool that you handmade your own game and gave a copy to Carpenter, I'm sure he genuinely appreciated that. I've not gone that far but there are a handful of true legends and lifelong heroes that I've had the pleasure to wrok with professionally and rather than make it awkward for them (or maybe it made it even more awkward I don't know) I write them each a hand written letter thanking them and explaining why their work meant so much to me and why it was an honour to meet them, and handed it to them as I was leaving, once it couldn't negatively affect our experience working together. I know that for at least a couple of them they actually read the notes and were very touched.
I mostly keep personal stuff offline but in short, yes, my mum is 100% solid gold wonderful person I'm so lucky to have had her in my life and right now I'm treasuring every day and experience with her that I can. My dad is also equally wonderful in different but equally important ways. Sadly they didn't stay together but even with diverging paths both have been a consistent source of inspiration to me throughout the years and I feel lucky to have known them for as long as I have.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Ristar24 Nice, I always like hearing about Sonic fans that have been around since day one and ridden the differing waves of quality and reputation of the characters etc.
For me, Sonic 4 Episode 1 is probably the low point and thing that upset me the most... I probably wouldn't feel it was such a trevesty if it was just a mobiloe game and called something different. You're right that episode 2 was a significant improvement but still a long way off base. For me, Sonic Mania is the "real" Sonic 4 and I pretend that other game doesn't exist as its the only one that makes me irrationally angry or upset 😂 Maybe the GBA port of Sonic 1... but its a port so that doesn't count in my head, I can ignore it.
Frontiers is far from perfect but its the best a new 3D Sonic game has been in decades and has real potential, and I've really admired how active Kishimioto has been in interacting with fans and even the modding community in going back and trying to improve the game, fix it, add requested features etc. The 2nd and 3rd free DLC really fixed a lot of my biggest issues with it, and they've confirmed that they are building on what they've learned with the next mainline game, rather than going back to the drawing board, so I'm more hopeful for 3D Sonic than I've been in a long time.
Mania, Origins and Superstars are all pretty great for 2d Sonic and I'm hopeful more classic Sonic games will continue to be made and they now at least understand how the physics, controls and level layouts should be, the improtance of the base set of characters, and have areally good team of people on the art, animation and music departments. (I wish we'd get a more colourful and cartoonish feeling 3d game with them all workign on it, but thats probably a long way off happening).
Sonic as a brand overall though is really on an upswing outside of the games. The two movies were far better than people expected them to be and the second really was given the freedom to be more of a "like the games, for the fans" thing than the first, I can only see that continuing with the third. The recent shows have been good, better than many previous attempts. The IDW comic series is absolutely killing it in my opinion. The marketing Team in America, Katie, Justin, Mike, Kenneth, Aaron, Jasmin and all are all very clearly lifelong fans with a real passion and knowledge for the history and clear vision for the future, and area actually listening to the fans and putting out quality products that are requested.
With all that in mind, I feel like Sonic as an overall brand is getting over its awkward mid 2000s "joke brand" era and theres whole new generations of kids just growing up loving it unironically, and it warms my heart to see parents enjoying sharing taht with them, just as I did with my own kids (who are now fully grown... jeez time goes by so fast as you get old).
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Mgalens From what I've seen, the Switch version plays great, almost entirely 60fps in the capture footage I've analysed (yes I downloaded the videos and opened them in editing software to check for frame drops... I'm aware this is beyond nerdy) however that was all footage that was officially put out there by Sega so I'm sure if there are areas where it doesn't perform as well, they would strategically not include them. But basically, I'm confident it will mostly play smoothly. The graphics are noticably cut back but I still think they look really nice and I'm happy they prioritised framerate over some fancy shaders or particle effects.
If I'm 100% candid, bosses are always my least favourite part of any platform game. For me, its all about the speed or fluidity of movement, and exploring new environments. I find it hard to know when a Sonic boss is "good" or "bad" - I prefer them to be visually interesting, but easy and over soon so I can explore the next zone. I've not watched any full playthroughs of the game yet, I'm waiting to experience them myself. Before SAGE this year I played a lot of the best/most professional 2d Sonic fangames from recent times and for me, some of them were as good if not better than some official games, but the bosses were always the things that I felt held them back. Boss design is seemingly hard to get exactly in that sweet spot.
In my own big platform adventure, I've somewhat cheated in that there are mini bosses of more powerful characters that you meet along the way, but the handful of actual "boss fights" that stop you progressing further in the story play like big eventful turn based FF battles, so that if you find any particular boss too hard, you can go and grind and build your XP, or buy more potions, craft more spells etc. I'm aware this will be a matter of contention for some, but its my game I can make what I want! lol
@BTB20 Those games were both near universally prasied by the gaming press at the time mostly because the previous Mario and RARE games were so universally loved, and the games were so anticipated. A bit like how music critics panned "Whats the Story Morning Glory" then realised the public loved it... so they universally praised "Be Here Now" because they thought fans would love it... only for it to be extremely divisive.
More modern critiques of Sunshine and DK64 are a lot more varied in their opinion. Some will absolutely tear them to shreds for the very same reasons that others will praise them. I would say both are an acquired taste, and whether you think they are excellent, or terrible, you are correct. Its uncommon to find people that fall inbetween, but I think I'm one of them. Both games are games I can play in short bursts and enjoy, obviously high quality products, but neither are games I've ever felt compelled to complete... they both get tiresome for me after a while, whereas Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie I can play start to finish over and over. But I understand how others could feel the exact opposite way.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@Woderwick Haha oh no offense taken I'm absolutely very close to the stereotypical obsessive Sonic fan. I have an unreasonably large and valuable collection of 32 years worth of Sonic related tat and its the #1 thing I'm likely to drop the masking and go on a fully autistic rant about. There are a handful of things I'm very passionate about but Sonic is the only thing others have described as being "like your religion" 😂 I was so trepidacious about the first Sonic movie that I cried in the cinema when I realised I actually thought it was quite good. I also cried when Amy was anounced as playable in Sonic Origins Plus. I'm aware this is very irrational behaviour for a guy in his 40s. But I just love these characters and worlds.
My birthday was last week and my mum asked what I wanted, I asked for a very specific cover variant of a one-shot Sonic comic book, and a physical copy of a Sonic game that I already own several times, because it has different regional artwork on the cover. On the day, my mother very patiently listened to me explaining excitedly exactly why each one was so cool and important, probably for a good 2 hours before I realised she was probably just being polite and there was no way she could possibly understand why this meant anything to me. 🤣
Over the years I've written many articles, helped with many youtube videos, even tv shows about Sonic... I have an ongoing documentary project about Sonic history with many big names involved... I'm also making my own Sonic fangame collection of remakes and reimaginings of all the classic games with the features and characters that fans most request but Sega always leave out... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvTiAmOH8MM allegedly for the fans, but mostly because its something I really, really want to exist. 😅
I say that I'm "very close to" the steroetypical fan, in that I'm at least rational and able to perfectly understand exactly why some people dislike Sonic, why certain games, shows and comics are "bad", how it became somewhat of a meme and some Sonic fans got a reputation as being a little... um... unusual? I don't blindly think everything Sonic is good, far from it. But I root for the brand and characters over all, and right now as a (somewhat long suffering) fan I'm very happy with the direction everything is going. I've not felt this confident in the overall quality of Sonic media since the 90s.
And no I haven't played Superstars yet... I've edited what I wrote to try and make that clearer. I was just summarisied all the reviews. But for an experienced player familiar with the nuances of everything involved, I don't need to play it to know that the physics and controls are just right, and that I love the graphics and music, and level themes. So for me who just wants "more classic Sonic"... its an easy 9/10 unless anything unforseen ruins that. I don't care about the specific emerald powers or the co-op mode, they are just nice novelties tacked on to the game I actually want.
I think co-op could be highly broken but a right laugh and great fun with mates and a few beers sat around the couch, or fun for families to play together. But there's no way in heck it will be a balanced experience, Sonics speed and branching paths don't allow that for the exact reasons you pointed out. The reason I've not mentioned my opinion on this before is firstly its a minor feature in the game to me, and this is also how I've felt about other games that other people absolutely love, so I thought maybe its just me?
For example back in the day, everyone raved about how great the MicroMachines games were in multiplayer - and I've never understood that. Constantly stopping and starting every time someone went off screen just seems madness to me for a top down racing game where there is no way all 4 cars will be at the same speed. It never made sense to me, and it plays really disjointedly. Yet I didn't care because I like the 1 player experience a lot and the creativity of the environments really sparked my imagination. I didn't enjoy the multiplayer aspect for the same reason I think that Sonic multiplayer on a single screen won't work... I think my issue is, for me, both Sonic and racing games are about speed and smoothness, so the stop start nature is jarring. But I've stayed quiet as I'm sure other people will enjoy it, just like seemingly everyone but me loved multiplayer MicroMachines. For me, the single player is what I'm focusing on, and it looks perfect for my taste 😀
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
So far Metacritic is showing mostly 9s and 8s for the PS5 version, with some 7s and only one below 6. Overall averaging at 7.5, exactly what I predicted. For a Sonic fan, that reads as a 9! lol. 😂 The Push Square review is one of the lowest scores and certainly seems harsh compared to others, but having read the entire review, and a few others, I understand why theres a big descrepancy.
TLDR: If you want a single player classic Sonic game that follows the formula well and has some fun new ideas: that's exactly what you get. For the reviews so far it seems - buy it, its great, you won't come away dissapointed.
However, if your main hope was to have a new experience with the chaos emerald powers reinventing the wheel... or if you were primariliy looking forward to playing this co-op, again a new experience for Sonic fans, again from the reviews so far, looks like you'll be disappointed as neither works especially well.
Yeah, I totally get that. Frankly, I never expected either aspect to be particularly good or game changing, but that wasn't why I was excited for the game. For me, even from the first trailer, the co-op aspect was "thats a neat feature but I can't imagine it working particularly well because of the speed and branching paths... good for a laugh as a side mode though I guess"... and for the chaos emerald powers I actually hoped they weren't too major a part - I love stock classic Sonic platforming and I'm never keen when they add too many gimmicks. For me, the really good Sonic Colours was slightly spoiled by the emphasis on the wisps. I hoped it wouldn't be the same for this game. But I was still super hyped for the game, just to get exactly what I want - more classic Sonic, made to a high standard with new graphics, zones and gimmicks.
So even though I've not managed to play it yet (can't wait for the 17th!) my prediction is it will be an easy 9/10 for me... sounds like the chaos powers will be minimal of an intrusion and just a fun distraction every now and again... and I was never likely to play this multiplayer more than a handful of times. As a single player classic Sonic experience, after reading the reviews, I'm even more sure I'll love it. 😍
Re: Random: Nintendo Shows Off Mario Riding The Inchworm Pipe
@Boo_Boy52 Haha true! 😂
Re: Random: Nintendo Shows Off Mario Riding The Inchworm Pipe
@durian @NinjaNicky @locky-mavo @AnnoyingFrenzy
"Pipe" is also a slang term for penetration in rap culture. I think combining the two might be what set the writer's double entendre alarm off.
Though I've gotta say it doesn't really sound dirty to me. It's literally a pipe moving like an inch worm. Do American audiences use the word caterpillar? That's the only other way I would have described it.